Washington Post reporter Chris Mooney writes that MIT researchers have found that giant cracks allow for the rapid draining of lakes on Greenland’s ice sheet. “We know that the ice sheet will continue to increase its contribution to sea level rise over the coming years,” explains lead author Laura Stevens. “The implications of this study show us more of how these processes will play out.”
MIT researchers have uncovered how the meltwater lakes atop Greenland’s ice sheet drain, reports Richard Valdmanis for Reuters. Lead author Laura Stevens explains that the findings will help “predict more accurately how supraglacial lakes will affect ice sheet flow and sea level rise.”
Professor Kerry Emanuel weighs in on President Obama’s statements on the relationship between climate change and extreme weather events, writes Chris Mooney for The Washington Post. “In his remarks at the National Hurricane center, President Obama presented a balanced view of how climate change is expected to affect hurricanes,” explains Emanuel.
Sarah Shemkus writes for The Boston Globe about how the MIT Climate CoLab uses crowdsourcing to address climate change. Climate change “is not a problem where one person or one organization can solve the problem alone,” says Prof. Thomas Malone, founder and head of the Climate CoLab.
MIT researchers have measured how gigantic underwater waves move, form, and dissipate, reports Justin Wm. Moyer for The Washington Post. The researchers found that these underwater waves are “big enough that they affect large-scale celestial motions,” explains Prof. Thomas Peacock.
Professor Thomas Peacock and his research group have examined the world’s strongest “internal waves,” some of which measure more than 500 meters high, writes Chris Sweeney for Boston Magazine. “Internal waves are the lumbering giants of the ocean,” says Peacock. “They move fairly slowly but they are very large in amplitude and carry a lot of energy.”
Visiting Scholar Deborah Cramer writes for The New York Times about how climate change and human development threatens shorebird populations, and the need for greater efforts to protect them. “I hope I never walk beaches empty of sandpipers and plovers. But it is possible that may happen,” Cramer writes.
Benjamin Hulac reports for Scientific American on a debate held at MIT on whether the Institute should divest its endowment from fossil-fuel companies. The forum included a panel of experts arguing each side of the issue and responding to questions from the audience.
Dr. Judah Cohen examines whether climate change could be leading to more extreme snowfall in a piece for The Washington Post. “The influence of climate change may be that the warming brings the atmosphere closer to the 'optimal' profile to generate heavy snowfalls, more so in the present than in the past,” Cohen writes.
Coco Liu writes for Scientific American about a new study co-authored by MIT researchers that indicates that Chinese government efforts to improve air quality may actually increase carbon emissions. With the focus on air quality, Chinese plants will focus on “scrubbing pollutants from the exhaust stream of coal power plants—rather than switching to use more renewable energy.”
Tom Zeller reports for Forbes on the Climate Feedback project developed by post-doctoral researcher Emmanuel W. Vincent that allows users to select and critique portions of articles on climate change. “If a newspaper claims that something is based on science,” Vincent said, “we want to examine whether they are making their case on solid scientific ground.”
Professor Kerry Emanuel speaks with John Upton of Scientific American about new research indicating that climate change could lead to stronger East Coast hurricanes. The study suggests that New England hurricanes “are more frequent when ocean temperatures near the U.S. East Coast are warmer,” says Emanuel.
Professor Paul O’Gorman speaks with Boston Globe reporter Carolyn Johnson about his recent research showing that despite climate change, massive snowstorms could still occur. “In some regions, fairly cold regions, you could have a decrease in the average snowfall in a year, but actually an intensification of the snowfall extremes,” explains O’Gorman.
Martin LaMonica writes for The Boston Globe about how MIT researchers are creating a commercial prototype of a carbon capture device. Graduate student Aly Eltayeb explains that carbon capture could be useful in cutting carbon emissions, “especially if you can do something with that CO2 and stop treating it as a waste — and treat it as a valuable product.”
New research by Professor Daniel Rothman and postdoctoral associate Yossi Cohen has raised questions about the feasibility of carbon capture, reports Ken Silverstein for Forbes. The researchers found that “only a ‘small fraction’ of the carbon dioxide solidifies and turns into rock after it is injected 7,000 feet below the earth’s surface,” explains Silverstein.