NP
Nonlinear Processes in Geosciences

Economy

Four reasons for still observing cold spells despite the undeniable global climate change

February 18, 2021
Four reasons for still observing cold spells despite the undeniable global climate change
Stravinsky fountain, near the Centre Pompidou (Paris) frozen by the cold wave of 2021.

The winter of 2020-2021 has been characterized by various cold waves affecting – at different times – Western and Eastern Europe and North America.  The most striking pictures show Madrid covered by up to 40 cm of fresh snow, frozen Thames near London and Canal St Martin in Paris, heavy snow in Amsterdam and even on the Eolian Islands, just offshore Sicily. At first this seems contradi ...[Read More]

Is planting trees a feasible large-scale solution to mitigate climate change?

June 8, 2020
Is planting trees a feasible large-scale solution to mitigate climate change?

In the last few years it has become a common practice to compensate carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by planting trees. This idea is simple and rooted on a very basic principle: trees get the energy of sunlight, and by photosynthesis they take water from the ground and CO2 from the air, releasing oxygen in the atmosphere. The CO2 is then stored in trees and surrounding soil. Tree planting efforts ar ...[Read More]

COVID-19-related drop in anthropogenic aerosol emissions in China and corresponding cloud and climate effects

May 29, 2020
COVID-19-related drop in anthropogenic aerosol emissions in China and corresponding cloud and climate effects
Observed reduced NO2 concentration above China in February 2020. Shown is the difference between February 2020 and the average of February 2018 and 2019. Figure from https://doi.org/10.31223/osf.io/z5dm8.

While a previous blog entry dealt with the question whether we can use lessons from the nonlinear nature of climate for projections of the Covid-19 pandemic, there is now a first example of how the pandemic can teach us something on climate. The several weeks long lockdown of China made February 2020 an exceptional month in terms of air quality; aerosol emissions were tremendously reduced leading ...[Read More]

Why Bushfires raged out of control across Australia?

January 22, 2020
Why Bushfires raged out of control across Australia?
A diagram showing how pyrocumulonimbus clouds are formed. Credits: Bureau of Meteorology, Victoria.

Australian wildfires have burned an impressively large surface and caused the death of at least 24 citizens as well as of numerous animals. This immense disaster raises questions about its linkage with climate change, the possibility of controlling these events and the future of Australian wildlife ecosystems. While the first question will be addressed by soon to come attribution studies, and the ...[Read More]