Climate Letter #1390

There is a new study about the relationship between cloud cover and climate change, one of the biggest issues in climate science.  Generally, warmer temperatures lead to more cloud cover; more cloud cover helps to cool the surface by reflecting more sunlight.  They cannot both come out on top, yet this study found that in northern Scandinavia, in the summer, there are years when cloud cover increases but there is no increase in air temperature.  Their research methodology is interesting but there is more to be explained.

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CO2 emissions from fossil fuel burning rose to a new record high last year.  This report from Bloomberg nicely summarizes the main sources behind the latest increase.  The ultimate cause was a 2.3% increase in energy demand, the most in a decade, led by a 4% increase in demand for electricity.  These demand curves were of a magnitude that could not be covered by growth in renewable energy sources, which is very disheartening as a signal of progress.
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Replacing most coal-fired power plants with renewable energy would bring immediate savings for consumers (Think Progress).  According to a new report, falling costs of wind and solar have made this true with respect to 74% of US coal plants.  The report did not include natural gas in making the cost comparisons, but did acknowledge that some entire communities suffer economically when coal mines are shuttered.
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Heating homes with ground-source heat pumps is gaining credibility.  The concept is sound but the situation needs to be right for it.  This post from Peter Sinclair describes how and where they work.
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A new way of describing and measuring the hydrological cycle has been developed.  The new metric captures the connection between adjacent wet and dry spells with a focus on their intensity.  Warming temperatures are shown to have effects that keep growing stronger.  “Our results suggest that extreme dry and wet events will increasingly co-occur, such as the switch from extreme drought to severe flooding we saw in California in the recent past…..At least in terms of disaster mitigation and water security, there would be significant benefits to limiting global warming to 1.5°C to dampen the intensification of event-to-event variability.”
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A giant Greenland glacier that was retreating has started growing in size but is still losing mass (National Geographic).  This is an update on the actions of the closely-watched Jakobshavn glacier and all the complications that are involved.  Ocean water temperature and air temperature both have a role, and both have episodes of significant change.
Carl

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