earthTANK

A handful of earth scientists reporting on nifty science

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January Climate Model Peter deMenocal. Have you gotten your Climate Model calendar yet?

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Super-Typhoon Haiyan: can we pin this on global climate change?

Super-typhoon Haiyan was not just one of the most devastating storms of 2013, but the strongest typhoon to make landfall ever recorded. The seeming increase in mega-storms (Sandy, Katrina…) might make you start to wonder - can we pin this on global climate change? A recent study published in Geophysical Research Letters and covered in Science Magazine suggests that yes, we can - at least in the case of Haiyan. Typhoons draw their energy from the warm surface waters of the ocean. Usually they pump up all the warm water, reach the colder waters below, start to lose energy, and slow down. But over the past two decades, the warm surface waters in the western Pacific Ocean have been getting thicker as the ocean absorbs heat from the atmosphere. So when Haiyan was crossing the western Pacific, it never reached the cold underbelly - it just kept pumping up warm water. Without the braking effect of the cold waters, tropical storm Haiyan absorbed enough energy to become a super typhoon!

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Opening up a lacustrine time capsule: something for everyone!

The New York Times highlighted a fantastic new study published recently in the journal Ecology Letters. By implementing techniques vaguely reminiscent of Jurassic Park, researchers resurrected the eggs of Daphnia (tiny, shirmp like critters, pictured above) that had been buried in lake sediments for over 7 centuries. 

The chemistry of the lake has also been reconstructed, enabling insight into how settlement by humans has influenced the ecosystem: from a pristine environment free from anthropogenic influence thousands of years ago around the time when the Vandals invaded Rome, to more modern times when eutrophication has increased nutrient loading in the lake. 

The researchers picked Daphnia eggs from snapshots in time in the lake over 700 years, coaxed them into hatching and then analyzed the DNA. Ultimately they were able to show that the anthropogenic input of high levels of phosphorus led to an overhaul of Daphnia ecology; in short: humans inadvertently forced the evolution of these nearly microscopic organisms. Gaining an understanding of how species have coped with climate change in the past can lend insight into how they might respond to future conditions with increased CO2, eutrophication and global warming. Ultimately, it's an awesome collaboration between molecular biology, paleoclimatology and ecology and a must-read!

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/09/science/a-living-time-capsule-shows-the-human-mark-on-evolution.html?ref=science&_r=0