SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS WITH PERUVIAN AND FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTERS ON CLIMATE CHANGE

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

Secretary's Remarks: Remarks With Peruvian Foreign Minister Gonzalo Gutierrez and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius at the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate Change Ministerial

Remarks With Peruvian Foreign Minister Gonzalo Gutierrez and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius at the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate Change Ministerial

Remarks

John Kerry

Secretary of State

Marriott East Side

New York City

September 21, 2014

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, good afternoon, everybody. Thank you very, very much for joining us here at the Major Economies Forum. We’re deeply appreciative for so many ministers making the effort to be here. This is the first time we’ve had ministers like this at the Major Economies, so it’s significant. And I’m delighted to be here co-hosting with my friends, Foreign Minister of Peru Gonzalo Gutierrez, and of course, Laurent Fabius of France, and we’re very appreciative to all of you for taking part in this.

President Obama launched the Major Economies Forum in 2009, recognizing that the vast – not the vast majority – I mean, by far, almost all of the greenhouse gas emissions doing damage to the planet come from about 20 countries. And regrettably, the United States is number two. We’ve been surpassed by China now. But this is not good for anybody in the world, and we understand this.

So these are the economies that are in the best position to be able to address the global threat of climate change and whose partnership is absolutely essential in order to do so. Today, as I said, is the first time ever that foreign ministers have met under this forum, and it’s obviously not going to be the last because it’s increasingly clear that climate change has impacts not only on the environment but for our economies and for global security interests as well.

Today, we can see climate refugees. We see people fighting over water in some places. There are huge challenges to food security and challenges to the ecosystem, our fisheries and otherwise. The acidification of the ocean is a challenge for all of us.

And when you accrue all of this, while we are confronting ISIL and we are confronting terrorism and we are confronting Ebola and other things, those are immediate. This also has an immediacy that people need to come to understand, but it has even greater longer-term consequences that can cost hundreds of billions, trillions of dollars, lives, and the security of the world.

So that’s why we’ve invited all of you here today, and that’s why I’m so pleased that so many of you have recognized the urgency at hand and you’ve made it a priority to be here. I know this is obviously a very busy week for all of us, and there’s a long list of important issues for all of us to focus on while we’re here at the General Assembly, but the grave threat that climate change poses warrants a prominent position on that list. I can remember being in Rio at the Earth Summit in 1992. I can remember a voluntary commitment, which we all know didn’t work. I was in Kyoto. Many of you were there. We all understand the road we’ve traveled. But it hasn’t gotten the job done. So the Major Economies obviously understand that if we collectively elevate the important issue of global action to address this threat, we will succeed.

And unlike many of the challenges that we face, when it comes to climate change we know exactly what it takes to get the job done. There’s no mystery to this. The solution to climate change is energy policy. If we make the right choices about how we build buildings, how we transport people, what we do with respect to providing electricity and power to our countries, this problem gets solved. And every one of our countries has the technologies today to be able to do this. The policies aren’t complicated. It’s getting the political will to make the decisions to do what we know we have to do about it. It’s as simple as that, and that is true all over the world.

So that’s where our focus needs to be. We’re going to have a chance to finalize a program and approach to this at the Climate Conference in Paris next year. We’re grateful to France for its efforts already to help countries begin to target that. It’s only 16 months away, and as foreign ministers we have a key role in the coming months to raise the importance of this issue – excuse me – and to help all of our countries to focus on the targets that we need to put forward in order to deal with it.

So again, a profound thank you to all of you for being here. I turn now to Foreign Minister Gonzalo Gutierrez for his words of welcome.

FOREIGN MINISTER GUTIERREZ: Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary of State, distinguished ministers and delegates. We in Peru welcome the timely initiative of the Secretary of State John Kerry to convene a foreign ministers meeting to discuss some of the global implications of climate change. Many of our countries are already experiencing unprecedented weather events that cause destruction and cripple communications, production, transport infrastructure, and above all, taking away precious human lives.

We in Peru are watching helplessly how the largest tropical glaciers on Earth continue melting away, depriving large coastal population and future agricultural developments of valuable water reserves. In the higher parts of the Andean region, unusual freezing temperatures are having a tragic impact on vulnerable population, food production, and different areas of the human life.

Response to these radical changes of nature is not always possible or efficient. This is why adaptation – we think it’s a key pillar in the climate change agenda, one that requires vast mobilization of cooperation, resources, and human qualification. Governments and business will have a chance this week to look closer at the opportunities to work together in innovative investment oriented towards low-carbon economies. We expect announcements that will bolster – booster confidence and ambition in the process that can lead to a substantial outcome in the COP 20 in Lima.

This, as a basis to conclude a new climate agreement in 2015 in Paris only – and let me stress only – if we are able to create a concrete basis for agreement in the Lima COP, there will be a solid basis for a comprehensive understanding in Paris. We expect significant announcements that major economies at this stage may do in order to expect a productive and significant outcome next year.

I thank you very much again for your invitation and I hope we all may have a very fruitful discussion today.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you, Gonzalo, very much. And now, Laurent Fabius.

FOREIGN MINISTER FABIUS: I will speak French. That’s for the earphones.

(Via interpreter) Dear John, thank you very much for this initiative of yours, which does not surprise us on your part since before you even were Secretary of State of the United States, you have always been interested in climate questions, the environment. You are an expert.

And I also tell my Peruvian colleague how happy I am to be sitting next to him, all the more since, as he said himself but in another way, the more the Lima results will be good, the less work we’ll have to do in Paris. If we end the thing in Lima, I invite all of you in Paris for two weeks – only in nightclubs. (Laughter.)

Two or three quick remarks. First remark: I think it’s the first time that foreign affair ministers gather in order to talk about this topic. And it’s not only because John is Secretary of State; it is not only because we all have the secret wish to take the job of our environment colleagues; it is much more, because we all understood that this question was a major question for the balance of the world. Of course, there are technical details in the discussions that we’re going to have, but before all, as my colleague said very well, it is a question of political will – political will. And we are here, we as foreign affair ministers, in order to try to express this political will. And I’m certain that we’ll make it number one.

Number two, in our work we keep talking about climate change, and sometimes we talk about global warming. As far as I’m concerned, I like to talk about climate disruption – climate disruption because it is not a question that is limited, it is a question that’s going to last 50 years, it is a question that is major and that is of today’s importance. So I think that if we want to succeed in Lima, in Paris, we must show two things: number one, that it is a question for right now; and then, that it is a question which needs solutions, of course, with some constraints, but also can give us some extremely positive fallout. And I think we have to be positive in the results; we have to have positive results around new growth, job creation, because this is how we’re going to convince people who are still reluctant.

Two last words. Today, a certain number of us have walked and marched in the streets of New York, and I’m told that there were other meetings in the world. I was there. I was with Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary-General of the UN. I was with Al Gore and other VIPs. And I think that it shows that people are now much more aware in all our countries of how important this topic is. And this coming week, at the initiative of Ban Ki-moon, is going to strengthen even more this new awareness. And I think in our countries we have to lean on this new awareness in order to obtain the results that are necessary in the Lima conference and in the Paris conference.

And lastly, in Warsaw – it was my first conference; I’m less of a veteran than some of you – I got in touch with different delegations. And I didn’t ask them what needs to be done in order to succeed. What I asked them was what should not be done. And I’ve had very interesting answers. One of the conclusions I drew was the following: If, in the past, we have had a few disappointments, it’s because we believed that at the very last minute, when the biggest political leaders were going to come, thanks to them, they’re going to solve all the problems.

No. Things must be prepared in a way that’s both ambitious and humble, ahead of time. That’s the reason why it’s so important to see each other right now. The UN week must be positive. In Lima, things must go forward, and then in many, many other meetings. So we have to be very ambitious and very modest. And my role, because France is going to chair the conference and the president of the republic has asked me to chair it as minister of foreign affairs, my role will be to listen to all of you and to try not really to push the French solutions. Let’s not be arrogant. But I’ll have the role of facilitator, so I’m very optimistic because I have all of your support. Thank you very much.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you, Laurent, very, very much. We appreciate your words and leadership, and we very much look forward to the Paris conference, to Lima first and then to Paris, and really a year of decision.

PRESIDENT'S CLIMATE ACTION PLAN REVIEWED BY GSA

FROM:  GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION
President's Climate Action Plan R
Review of the President's Climate Action Plan
Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works
“Review of the President’s Climate Action Plan”

January 16, 2014

Good morning Chairman Boxer, Ranking Member Vitter, and Members of the Committee. I appreciate being invited here today to testify on this important topic.

Last year, the U.S. Government Accountability Office added climate change to its High Risk List, citing that it presents “a significant financial risk to the federal government.” According to the National Climatic Data Center, in 2012 weather and climate disaster events caused over $110 billion in damages, making it the second costliest year on record.

This Administration is committed to reducing the damage caused by climate change, and to preparing for its impacts, both in the long term as well as those we are already experiencing. In June 2013, the President reaffirmed this commitment with a Climate Action Plan that directs agencies to: cut carbon pollution; prepare for the impacts of climate change; and lead international efforts to address global climate change.

The U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) is one of the many Federal agencies doing its part to assist in this effort. As the landlord and caretaker of federal properties, GSA owns or leases 9,624 assets, which includes maintaining an inventory of more than 370 million rentable square feet of workspace, and preserving more than 481 historic properties. This large and diverse portfolio presents many opportunities for GSA to increase energy efficiency, reduce our contribution to climate change, save millions of dollars in energy costs and to plan and implement risk management.

As part of the President’s Climate Action Plan, GSA is improving the efficiency of our Federal buildings, identifying and preparing for climate risks, and working to ensure that we share lessons learned with our partner agencies.

Reducing Impact on Climate Change –

GSA reduces energy consumption across its portfolio through a variety of means. GSA leverages technology such as advanced metering, remote building analytics and smart building systems to uncover deeper energy savings opportunities. Advanced meters, which provide real time energy use information, have been installed in 450 buildings, representing 80% of GSA’s total electricity consumption metered. Continuous enhancements to the system, ongoing training of users, use of detailed historical data and expert modeling are all proven methods which are increasing energy efficiency at lesser cost.

GSA uses rapid building assessments to perform sophisticated energy audits that require no onsite work or new device installations. Such remote analytics have resulted in significant cost savings over traditional audits and have identified additional energy savings opportunities.

The President’s Climate Action Plan also highlights other important tools we can use to improve the efficiency of our buildings, including continued use of Energy Savings Performance Contracts (ESPCs). An ESPC engages the private sector in an agency’s efforts to achieve energy efficiency improvements. The private sector provides the upfront capital to make energy efficiency upgrades in a facility, and is paid by the Federal agency from the guaranteed energy savings under the contract. Once the contract ends, the agency continues to benefit from the reduced energy costs. In December 2011, the President challenged Federal agencies to enter into a combined $2 billion worth of ESPCs by December 31, 2013. GSA exceeded its own target of $175 million with $191 million in contracts awarded. These contracts, which range from 12 to 23 years in duration, are projected to reduce GSA’s annual energy consumption by 365 billion Btus, or about the amount of energy used in 3,380 single family homes per year, resulting in direct savings (lower utility payments) of $10.6 million per year.

The President’s Climate Action Plan sets new goals on the Federal use of Renewable Energy, increasing the current goal from 7.5 percent to 20 percent by 2020. In FY 2013, 46.1 percent of electricity procured or generated by GSA came from renewable sources (nearly 1,200 GWh). Over 24 GWh of this renewable electricity was generated at our own facilities. GSA expects to generate nearly 29 GWh per year once on-site renewable projects currently underway are fully operational. This amount of on-site renewable energy is enough to power nearly 2,600 homes.

Through the use of Green Button data, the President’s Climate Action Plan also highlights the importance of collecting data to promote better energy management. Green Button is an industry-led effort, in response to the Administration’s call-to-action, that looks to meet the challenge of providing electricity consumers with secure, easy to understand information on their energy usage. As directed in the December 2013 Presidential Memorandum on Federal Leadership in Energy Management, GSA will partner with the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency to prepare and initiate a pilot Green Button initiative at Federal facilities. Following the pilot, DOE, in coordination with EPA, is required to issue guidance on use of the Green Button standard at Federal facilities. GSA will leverage the Green Button standard within its federal facilities to increase the ability to manage energy consumption, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and meet sustainability goals.

Taken together, these efforts have led to a significant reduction in GSA’s energy use intensity and greenhouse gas emissions. In FY 2013, GSA achieved a cumulative reduction in energy usage per square foot of 24.8 percent,1 ahead of statutory targets. Since Fiscal Year 2011, these reductions have saved $192.7 million in avoided direct energy costs.2 Also, in FY 2013, GSA achieved an approximately 50 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, exceeding our FY 2020 target.3 That is the equivalent of more than 60,000 homes powered for one year.

Preparing for the Impacts of Climate Change –

GSA is also preparing for the potential impacts of climate change as part of the President’s Climate Action Plan. While it is impossible to predict the precise occurrence and costs of each and every climate risk, it is imperative to develop a robust risk management approach.

One such area of focus has been preparing for future floods. GSA is actively coordinating with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and Federal Interagency Floodplain Management Task Force to incorporate the most recent and relevant flood-risk reduction strategies into GSA’s operations. We are in the process of updating GSA’s internal floodplain management guidance and are taking into consideration updated FEMA floodplain maps and additional guidance on using climate projections.

GSA is also working to boost the resilience of buildings and infrastructure. We are in the process of prioritizing our most mission critical and vulnerable facilities, looking into cost-effective climate-resilient investments, and investigating solutions that reduce both climate change risks and greenhouse gas emissions. A pilot project is currently in place to incorporate climate risk reduction factors into a new land port of entry facility. GSA will take lessons learned from this pilot and share with other agencies.

We believe these efforts will ensure GSA, and the Federal government broadly, is more prepared to address the long-term consequences of climate change.

Conclusion –

The President’s Climate Action Plan represents a commitment to reduce and respond to the impacts of climate change. As a major landholding agency of the Federal government, GSA plays an important role in mitigating and preparing for these adverse effects. Through improved energy efficiency and risk planning, we hope to continue to make progress on both of these critical efforts.

I am pleased to be here today, and I am happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you.

DEVELOPING VERY SENSITIVE METHANE-SENSING TECHNOLOGY

FROM:  LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY
Technologies to Characterize Natural Gas Emissions Tested in Field Experiments

LOS ALAMOS, N.M., October 28, 2013—A new collaborative science program is pioneering the development of ultra-sensitive methane-sensing technology.

“Given the importance of methane to global climate change, this study is essential,” said Manvendra Dubey of Los Alamos National Laboratory “This work aids both commercial and government sectors in an effort to better understand and mitigate fugitive methane emissions.”

“A significant part of understanding Man’s role in global climate change is the accurate measurement of the components that have a profound effect on climate. This project takes four of the top organizations in the discipline and sets their expertise to the test, that of measuring methane in the field and then making the results available to the larger scientific community,” he said.

The program is a joint effort on the part of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the Department of Energy (DOE), Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and Chevron Corporation. The program was launched following a field experiment at DOE’s Rocky Mountain Oil Testing Center (RMOTC) some 35 miles north of Casper, Wyoming.

Why Measure Methane?

Methane, the principal component of natural gas, is one of many gases whose presence in the atmosphere contributes to global climate change. It is a goal of industry and scientists alike to better constrain the source flux of fugitive methane emissions from man-made activities. A key tool in the measurement of methane is to understand the capabilities of currently available airborne and ground-based sensors.

Los Alamos and Chevron have worked collaboratively on sensor technology development since 2001, while the more nascent collaborative agreement between Chevron and NASA has been effective since July 2011.

The organizations have worked hard to develop a range of technologies targeting effective and responsible exploration and production of petroleum and natural gas that will ultimately provide benefit to the environment. The majority of these research projects have been focused on upstream applications in the oil and gas sector. The recent methane controlled release airborne/in situ project marks the first time that JPL and Los Alamos have worked collaboratively on an experiment this significant, the researchers said.

The Work in the Field

The summer science campaign at RMOTC (held June 20-26, 2013) was designed to measure methane abundances released at different rates using three airborne instruments on separate aircraft, a small, unmanned aerial system (sUAS), and an array of in situ sensors. The goal is to understand the sensitivity and accuracy at measuring methane for airborne sensors.

The methane was released at metered, controlled rates and observed downwind by a 45-foot tower at each release site to examine the spatiotemporal variability of methane and local winds, while the four aircraft flew overhead to allow for sensor performance appraisal under controlled conditions.

Who’s Who on the Team

The RMOTC’s primary mission is to provide facilities for advancing technologies applicable to the energy sector to promote enhanced safety and efficient energy production. As such, it provided the testing grounds for the recent Chevron/JPL/LANL methane controlled-release experiment. JPL was responsible for deployment of remote sensing airborne instruments and Los Alamos provided ground-based sensor and modeling capabilities.

Los Alamos was responsible for the in situ science including quantifying methane using tower-mounted ground based sensors and a Picarro Global Surveyor vehicle for real-time assessment of methane concentrations and its isotopic composition while conducting driving surveys.

“We have assembled a world-class dream team that harnesses national assets at NASA's JPL and DOE's LANL, each contributing their expertise to methane detection and attribution, with JPL providing airborne remote sensing expertise and LANL focusing on modeling and in situ measurements,” said Dubey, LANL’s principal investigator.

“The project is pioneering the development of ultra-sensitive methane sensing technology to fill current gaps in quantifying fugitive leaks from petroleum extraction. With US energy independence a priority to the nation, understanding the effects of varied extraction techniques is important and calls for high-quality data.”

JPL deployed three different airborne sensors: the Next Generation Airborne Visible and Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS-ng), the Hyperspectral Thermal Emission Spectrometer (HyTES), and the CARVE instrument suite. All of the airborne sensors have capability to detect enhanced concentrations of methane from ground sources.

“We’ve organized deployment of a suite of state-of-the art instruments available for methane detection whose performance in controlled release testing will demonstrate their efficacy for methane remote sensing – preliminary results from our data analysis reveal detection of robust plume signatures from these controlled experiments,” said Andrew Aubrey, project manager at JPL.

“This study demonstrates tools that can be utilized for investigations of natural and anthropogenic methane emissions while also informing us to the performance expected from the next generation remote sensing instruments currently being designed at JPL.”

Over the coming months the team plans to publish and disseminate the results of their combined aerial and ground experiments. This study is particularly relevant given the importance of methane to global climate change and the co-aligned goals of commercial and government sectors to better understand and mitigate fugitive emissions. The tools tested at RMOTC include those technologies that can help to allow safe and responsible production of gas in future operations.

ANTARTIC ICE SHEET WARMING FASTER IN THE WEST



Map:  Antartica.  Credit:  CIA World Factbook.

FROM: NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

Study Finds That Portions of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Are Warming Twice as Fast as Previously Thought
Findings could have important implications for global sea-level rise
December 24, 2012
A new study funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) finds that the western part of the massive West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) is experiencing nearly twice as much warming as previously thought.

The findings were published online this week in the journal Nature Geoscience. NSF manages the U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP) and coordinates all U.S. research and associated logistics on the southernmost continent and in the surrounding Southern Ocean.

The temperature record from Byrd Station, an unmanned scientific outpost in the center of the ice sheet, demonstrates a marked increase of 4.3 degrees Fahrenheit (2.4 degrees Celsius) in average annual temperature since 1958. That is three times faster than the average temperature rise around the globe.

This temperature increase is nearly double what previous research has suggested, and reveals--for the first time--warming trends during the summer months of the Southern Hemisphere (December through February), said David Bromwich, professor of geography at Ohio State University and senior research scientist at the Byrd Polar Research Center.

"Our record suggests that continued summer warming in West Antarctica could upset the surface mass balance of the ice sheet, so that the region could make an even bigger contribution to sea-level rise than it already does," said Bromwich.

"Even without generating significant mass loss directly, surface melting on the WAIS could contribute to sea level indirectly, by weakening the West Antarctic ice shelves that restrain the region's natural ice flow into the ocean."

Andrew Monaghan, study co-author and scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), said that these findings place West Antarctica among the fastest-warming regions on Earth.

"We've already seen enhanced surface melting contribute to the breakup of the Antarctic's Larsen B Ice Shelf, where glaciers at the edge discharged massive sections of ice into the ocean that contributed to sea level rise," Monaghan said. "The stakes would be much higher if a similar event occurred to an ice shelf restraining one of the enormous WAIS glaciers."

Researchers consider the WAIS especially sensitive to climate change, explained Ohio State University doctoral student Julien Nicolas. Since the base of the ice sheet rests below sea level, it is vulnerable to direct contact with warm ocean water. Its melting currently contributes 0.3 mm to sea level rise each year--second to Greenland, whose contribution to sea-level rise has been estimated as high as 0.7 mm per year.

Due to its location some 700 miles from the South Pole and near the center of the WAIS, Byrd Station is an important indicator of climate change throughout the region.

In the past, researchers haven't been able to make much use of the Byrd Station measurements, due to the fact that since the station was establishment in 1957, it hasn't always been occupied. So, its data were incomplete, to the point that nearly one third of the temperature observations were missing for the time period of the study. A year-round automated station was installed in 1980, but it has experienced frequent power outages, especially during the long polar night, when its solar panels can't recharge.

Bromwich and two of his graduate students, along with colleagues from the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, corrected the past Byrd temperature measurements and used corrected data from a computer atmospheric model and a numerical analysis method to fill in the missing observations.

Aside from offering a more complete picture of warming in West Antarctica, the study suggests that if this warming trend continues, melting will become more extensive in the region in the future, Bromwich said.

While the researchers work to fully understand the cause of the summer warming at Byrd Station, the next step is clear, he added.

"West Antarctica is one of the most rapidly changing regions on Earth, but it is also one of the least known," he said. "Our study underscores the need for a reliable network of meteorological observations throughout West Antarctica, so that we can know what is happening--and why--with more certainty."

SATELLITES SEE UNPRECEDENTED GREENLAND ICE SHEET SURFACE MELT

FROM:  NASA
WASHINGTON -- For several days this month, Greenland's surface ice
cover melted over a larger area than at any time in more than 30
years of satellite observations. Nearly the entire ice cover of
Greenland, from its thin, low-lying coastal edges to its 2-mile-thick
center, experienced some degree of melting at its surface, according
to measurements from three independent satellites analyzed by NASA
and university scientists.

On average in the summer, about half of the surface of Greenland's ice
sheet naturally melts. At high elevations, most of that melt water
quickly refreezes in place. Near the coast, some of the melt water is
retained by the ice sheet and the rest is lost to the ocean. But this
year the extent of ice melting at or near the surface jumped
dramatically. According to satellite data, an estimated 97 percent of
the ice sheet surface thawed at some point in mid-July.

Researchers have not yet determined whether this extensive melt event
will affect the overall volume of ice loss this summer and contribute
to sea level rise.

"The Greenland ice sheet is a vast area with a varied history of
change. This event, combined with other natural but uncommon
phenomena, such as the large calving event last week on Petermann
Glacier, are part of a complex story," said Tom Wagner, NASA's
cryosphere program manager in Washington. "Satellite observations are
helping us understand how events like these may relate to one another
as well as to the broader climate system."

Son Nghiem of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.,
was analyzing radar data from the Indian Space Research
Organisation's (ISRO) Oceansat-2 satellite last week when he noticed
that most of Greenland appeared to have undergone surface melting on
July 12. Nghiem said, "This was so extraordinary that at first I
questioned the result: was this real or was it due to a data error?"

Nghiem consulted with Dorothy Hall at NASA's Goddard Space Flight
Center in Greenbelt, Md. Hall studies the surface temperature of
Greenland using the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
(MODIS) on NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites. She confirmed that MODIS
showed unusually high temperatures and that melt was extensive over
the ice sheet surface.

Thomas Mote, a climatologist at the University of Georgia, Athens,
Ga., and Marco Tedesco of City University of New York also confirmed
the melt seen by Oceansat-2 and MODIS with passive-microwave
satellite data from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder on a
U.S. Air Force meteorological satellite.

The melting spread quickly. Melt maps derived from the three
satellites showed that on July 8, about 40 percent of the ice sheet's
surface had melted. By July 12, 97 percent had melted.

This extreme melt event coincided with an unusually strong ridge of
warm air, or a heat dome, over Greenland. The ridge was one of a
series that has dominated Greenland's weather since the end of May.
"Each successive ridge has been stronger than the previous one," said
Mote. This latest heat dome started to move over Greenland on July 8,
and then parked itself over the ice sheet about three days later. By
July 16, it had begun to dissipate.

Even the area around Summit Station in central Greenland, which at 2
miles above sea level is near the highest point of the ice sheet,
showed signs of melting. Such pronounced melting at Summit and across
the ice sheet has not occurred since 1889, according to ice cores
analyzed by Kaitlin Keegan at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H. A
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weather station at
Summit confirmed air temperatures hovered above or within a degree of
freezing for several hours July 11-12.

"Ice cores from Summit show that melting events of this type occur
about once every 150 years on average. With the last one happening in
1889, this event is right on time," says Lora Koenig, a Goddard
glaciologist and a member of the research team analyzing the
satellite data. "But if we continue to observe melting events like
this in upcoming years, it will be worrisome."

Nghiem's finding while analyzing Oceansat-2 data was the kind of
benefit that NASA and ISRO had hoped to stimulate when they signed an
agreement in March 2012 to cooperate on Oceansat-2 by sharing data.

For more information about NASA programs, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

REPORT: CORRELATION BETWEEN GLOBAL CLIMATE AND ATMOSPHERIC CARBON DIOXIDE LEVELS

The phytoplankton Emiliania huxleyi offers new clues about climate past, present and future. Photo Credit:  Wikimedia.

June 6, 2012

Until now, studies of Earth's climate have documented a strong correlation between global climate and atmospheric carbon dioxide; that is, during warm periods, high concentrations of CO₂ persist, while colder times correspond to relatively low levels.

However, in this week's issue of the journal Nature, paleoclimate researchers reveal that about 12-5 million years ago climate was decoupled from atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. New evidence of this comes from deep-sea sediment cores dated to the late Miocene period of Earth's history.

During that time, temperatures across a broad swath of the North Pacific were 9-14 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than today, while atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations remained low--near values prior to the Industrial Revolution.

The research shows that, in the last five million years, changes in ocean circulation allowed Earth's climate to become more closely coupled to changes in carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere.

The findings also demonstrate that the climate of modern times more readily responds to changing carbon dioxide levels than it has during the past 12 million years.

"This work represents an important advance in understanding how Earth's past climate may be used to predict future climate trends," says Jamie Allan, program director in the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Division of Ocean Sciences, which funded the research.

The research team, led by Jonathan LaRiviere and Christina Ravelo of the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC), generated the first continuous reconstructions of open-ocean Pacific temperatures during the late Miocene epoch.

It was a time of nearly ice-free conditions in the Northern Hemisphere and warmer-than-modern conditions across the continents.

The research relies on evidence of ancient climate preserved in microscopic plankton skeletons--called microfossils--that long-ago sank to the sea-floor and ultimately were buried beneath it in sediments.

Samples of those sediments were recently brought to the surface in cores drilled into the ocean bottom.  The cores were retrieved by marine scientists working aboard the drillshipJOIDES Resolution.

The microfossils, the scientists discovered, contain clues to a time when the Earth's climate system functioned much differently than it does today.

"It's a surprising finding, given our understanding that climate and carbon dioxide are strongly coupled to each other," LaRiviere says.

"In the late Miocene, there must have been some other way for the world to be warm. One possibility is that large-scale patterns in ocean circulation, determined by the very different shape of the ocean basins at the time, allowed warm temperatures to persist despite low levels of carbon dioxide."

The Pacific Ocean in the late Miocene was very warm, and the thermocline, the boundary that separates warmer surface waters from cooler underlying waters, was much deeper than in the present.

The scientists suggest that this deep thermocline resulted in a distribution of atmospheric water vapor and clouds that could have maintained the warm global climate.

"The results explain the seeming paradox of the warm--but low greenhouse gas--world of the Miocene," says Candace Major, program director in NSF's Division of Ocean Sciences.

Several major differences in the world's waterways could have contributed to the deep thermocline and the warm temperatures of the late Miocene.

For example, the Central American Seaway remained open, the Indonesian Seaway was much wider than it is now, and the Bering Strait was closed.

These differences in the boundaries of the world's largest ocean, the Pacific, would have resulted in very different circulation patterns than those observed today.

By the onset of the Pliocene epoch, about five million years ago, the waterways and continents of the world had shifted into roughly the positions they occupy now.

That also coincides with a drop in average global temperatures, a shoaling of the thermocline, and the appearance of large ice sheets in the Northern Hemisphere--in short, the climate humans have known throughout recorded history.

"This study highlights the importance of ocean circulation in determining climate conditions," says Ravelo. "It tells us that the Earth's climate system has evolved, and that climate sensitivity is possibly at an all-time high."

Other co-authors of the paper are Allison Crimmins of UCSC and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Petra Dekens of UCSC and San Francisco State University; Heather Ford of UCSC; Mitch Lyle of Texas A&M University; and Michael Wara of UCSC and Stanford University.