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"title": "If You Think You Understand the Death of the Dinosaurs, You’re Wrong",
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"content": "\u003cp>http://www.kqed.org/.stream/anon/radio/science/2015/07/20150720ScienceDinosaurrocks.mp3\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A “Jurassic Park” sequel is once again dominating the box office this summer, underscoring the star power of dinosaurs. But, captivated as we are with bringing them back, scientists still argue over what caused their extinction 66 million years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not as settled as you might think.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I put the question to Charles Marshall, director of the University of California \u003ca href=\"http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/\">Museum of Paleontology\u003c/a> in Berkeley: “Do we know what killed the dinosaurs?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No.” He repeated it emphatically, “No.” (Pause) “I guess the answer is no.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘There were dozens of hypotheses, and basically no one took any of them seriously.’\u003ccite>Charles Marshall,UC Museum of Paleontology Director\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>We were sitting in Marshall’s fifth-floor office, not far from the skull of a triceratops relative and some fossilized feet the size of tree stumps. He told me as recently as the 1970s, there wasn’t even a good guess as to what killed the dinosaurs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There were dozens of hypotheses, and basically no one took any of them seriously.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That is, until Berkeley scientists — led by Luis Alvarez (a Nobel laureate in physics) and his geologist son Walter Alvarez — brought forward the idea that Earth was slammed by a meteorite or comet roughly the size of San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The theory and its backers got a major boost a few years later with the discovery of a 110-mile-wide crater on present-day Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With the finding of the smoking gun, then the fact that there was a large meteorite started to become broadly accepted,” Marshall said. “So it sort’ve started to evolve into meteorite versus volcanism as the two hypotheses.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_124231\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/IMG_8518.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-124231\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/IMG_8518-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Charles Marshall looks at a cast of a bird related to puffins and the Great Auk, found in southern California’s Monterey Formation.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/IMG_8518-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/IMG_8518-400x300.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/IMG_8518-1440x1080.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/IMG_8518-1400x1050.jpg 1400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/IMG_8518-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/IMG_8518-960x720.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Charles Marshall looks at a cast of a bird related to puffins and the Great Auk, found in southern California’s Monterey Formation. \u003ccite>(Daniel Potter/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Indeed, volcanoes have been hard to keep off the list of known suspects. Going back hundreds of millions of years, every other big extinction (barring the present day’s) is connected to volcanism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Plus, around the same time as the meteorite impact and the disappearance of dinosaurs from the fossil record (along with many species, down to tiny ocean creatures), there was also a massive wave of volcanic activity in India – in a place known as the Deccan Traps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So for years scientists have argued back and forth: Impact! Volcanoes! Impact! …\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Until recently, when Berkeley geophysicist Mark Richards \u003ca href=\"http://gsabulletin.gsapubs.org/content/early/2015/04/30/B31167.1.abstract\">offered this idea\u003c/a>: “I realized that the size of the impact is likely large enough to have triggered volcanic systems around the planet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Bigger Than Big\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richards calculates that the energy of a rock the size of Mount Everest slamming down from space was enough to unleash a magnitude 11 quake. That is not a typo. When I told Richards I thought the scale only went to 10, he told me that’s actually not true.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In earthquake terms, higher than 10 is a nightmare. Such a quake would be hundreds of times worse than the “big one” that hit San Francisco in 1906. Richards says it would’ve rattled the globe – even the volcanoes on the other side of the world in India.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_124232\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 414px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/IMG_8537-e1437167252247.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-124232\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/IMG_8537-e1437167252247-800x738.jpg\" alt=\"A relative to the present day Komodo dragon, the owner of this skull (left) sported flippers and could grow more than 20 feet long. To the right in Charles Marshall's lab sits an Allosaurus foot.\" width=\"414\" height=\"382\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/IMG_8537-e1437167252247-800x738.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/IMG_8537-e1437167252247-400x369.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/IMG_8537-e1437167252247-1440x1329.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/IMG_8537-e1437167252247-1400x1292.jpg 1400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/IMG_8537-e1437167252247-1180x1089.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/IMG_8537-e1437167252247-960x886.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/IMG_8537-e1437167252247.jpg 2007w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 414px) 100vw, 414px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A relative to the present day Komodo dragon, the owner of this skull (left) sported flippers and could grow more than 20 feet long. To the right in Charles Marshall’s lab sits an Allosaurus foot. \u003ccite>(Daniel Potter/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“So the idea is that system may have been kicked into high gear by the impact.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richards is careful to say that if he’s right, and the two events are connected, we still don’t know precisely what killed the dinosaurs. Rather, the proposal points the way toward a new investigation, says Paul Renne, director of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.bgc.org/\">Berkeley Geochronology Center\u003c/a> and coauthor of Richards’ paper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We just have to abandon the idea that it’s one or the other,” Renne said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both the impact itself and a wave of volcanism would have the potential to unleash massive outpourings of noxious gases, resulting in wild swings in temperature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One factor might’ve been a release of CO2, say from so much vaporized limestone, resulting, along with other greenhouse gases, in a long-term warming effect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_124230\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 530px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/4DPotter1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-124230\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/4DPotter1-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"India’s Deccan Traps, described by geologists as a “large igneous province,” were formed over thousands of years as layer upon layer of lava flowed out and cooled, right around the same time the dinosaurs died.\" width=\"530\" height=\"397\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/4DPotter1-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/4DPotter1-400x300.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/4DPotter1-1440x1080.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/4DPotter1-1400x1050.jpg 1400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/4DPotter1-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/4DPotter1-960x720.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">India’s Deccan Traps, described by geologists as a “large igneous province,” were formed over hundreds of thousands of years as layer upon layer of lava flowed out and cooled, right around the same time the dinosaurs died. \u003ccite>(Paul Renne/BGC)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Renne says there could’ve also been an abundance of sulfate aerosols, “which, if they get up into the atmosphere, can actually reflect enough sunlight it results in cooling.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, one could argue for a double event – sudden cooling first, followed by a long, hot period from the greenhouse effect. Whether the dinosaurs died in a single bad weekend, or the lifetime of an animal as the food web collapsed, or several millenia, remains unclear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The potential effects of either an impact or massive volcanism in many respects can be the same. The symptoms would be indistinguishable,” Renne says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Increasing Precision\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To better understand the impact and its possible connection to the eruptions in India, the next step will be establishing a narrower range of dates. For Renne, this entails using a basement room full of mass spectrometers to test rocks from the Deccan Traps. Canvas sacks full of such rocks are heaped in the hallway outside his office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m a rock aficionado, and I have lots of beautiful rocks and big crystals. These are some of the ugliest rocks you’ll ever see,” Renne said, producing a sample that to my untrained eye might as well have been gravel from a nearby quarry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_124234\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 355px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Skeletons.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-124234\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Skeletons-800x1067.jpg\" alt=\"A fossilized Pteranodon swoops above Tyrannosaurus rex at the University of California Museum of Paleontology in Berkeley.\" width=\"355\" height=\"474\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Skeletons-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Skeletons-400x533.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Skeletons-1440x1920.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Skeletons-1400x1867.jpg 1400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Skeletons-1180x1573.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Skeletons-960x1280.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 355px) 100vw, 355px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A fossilized Pteranodon swoops above Tyrannosaurus rex at the University of California Museum of Paleontology in Berkeley. \u003ccite>(Daniel Potter/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Dating these rocks is a slow process, involving shipping a few dozen milligrams out of state to be irradiated and then sent back for testing. It can take months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearby is a wood-paneled room that houses a magnetometer — another tool for dating prehistoric rocks. This is Courtney Sprain’s speciality; she’s a Ph.D. student who also coauthored Richards’ paper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sprain spends part of each summer in Montana gathering samples from coal beds, and told me by the end of each day she tends to resemble a chimneysweep.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the Earth’s magnetic core shifts (we’re not sure why this happens), it leaves a record in the rocks. Sprain teases out these clues to refine the timescale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re getting precision of 20-thousand years,” she says, “whereas before it was 500-thousand, a million.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Really, what would be ideal, if unrealistic, is precision down to what day of the week the impact occurred. But getting it under 10,000 years would be helpful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Geologist Eldridge Moores, a distinguished professor emeritus at U.C. Davis, known for his role in the John McPhee book “Assembling California,” says it’s like a detective trying to figure out someone’s exact time of death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You have to know that – it’s essential information before you can answer the next question, which is why. The same is true with the dinosaurs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moores was sitting with me at his house in Davis, a copy of Mark Richards’ paper on the dining room table before him, when I asked him the question: Do we know what killed the dinosaurs?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He told me no — but he thinks we’re getting closer.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "A meteorite killed the dinosaurs. Or was it volcanism? U.C. Berkeley scientists say the two were connected.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A “Jurassic Park” sequel is once again dominating the box office this summer, underscoring the star power of dinosaurs. But, captivated as we are with bringing them back, scientists still argue over what caused their extinction 66 million years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not as settled as you might think.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I put the question to Charles Marshall, director of the University of California \u003ca href=\"http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/\">Museum of Paleontology\u003c/a> in Berkeley: “Do we know what killed the dinosaurs?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No.” He repeated it emphatically, “No.” (Pause) “I guess the answer is no.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">‘There were dozens of hypotheses, and basically no one took any of them seriously.’\u003ccite>Charles Marshall,UC Museum of Paleontology Director\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>We were sitting in Marshall’s fifth-floor office, not far from the skull of a triceratops relative and some fossilized feet the size of tree stumps. He told me as recently as the 1970s, there wasn’t even a good guess as to what killed the dinosaurs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There were dozens of hypotheses, and basically no one took any of them seriously.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That is, until Berkeley scientists — led by Luis Alvarez (a Nobel laureate in physics) and his geologist son Walter Alvarez — brought forward the idea that Earth was slammed by a meteorite or comet roughly the size of San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The theory and its backers got a major boost a few years later with the discovery of a 110-mile-wide crater on present-day Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With the finding of the smoking gun, then the fact that there was a large meteorite started to become broadly accepted,” Marshall said. “So it sort’ve started to evolve into meteorite versus volcanism as the two hypotheses.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_124231\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/IMG_8518.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-124231\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/IMG_8518-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Charles Marshall looks at a cast of a bird related to puffins and the Great Auk, found in southern California’s Monterey Formation.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/IMG_8518-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/IMG_8518-400x300.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/IMG_8518-1440x1080.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/IMG_8518-1400x1050.jpg 1400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/IMG_8518-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/IMG_8518-960x720.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Charles Marshall looks at a cast of a bird related to puffins and the Great Auk, found in southern California’s Monterey Formation. \u003ccite>(Daniel Potter/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Indeed, volcanoes have been hard to keep off the list of known suspects. Going back hundreds of millions of years, every other big extinction (barring the present day’s) is connected to volcanism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Plus, around the same time as the meteorite impact and the disappearance of dinosaurs from the fossil record (along with many species, down to tiny ocean creatures), there was also a massive wave of volcanic activity in India – in a place known as the Deccan Traps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So for years scientists have argued back and forth: Impact! Volcanoes! Impact! …\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Until recently, when Berkeley geophysicist Mark Richards \u003ca href=\"http://gsabulletin.gsapubs.org/content/early/2015/04/30/B31167.1.abstract\">offered this idea\u003c/a>: “I realized that the size of the impact is likely large enough to have triggered volcanic systems around the planet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Bigger Than Big\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richards calculates that the energy of a rock the size of Mount Everest slamming down from space was enough to unleash a magnitude 11 quake. That is not a typo. When I told Richards I thought the scale only went to 10, he told me that’s actually not true.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In earthquake terms, higher than 10 is a nightmare. Such a quake would be hundreds of times worse than the “big one” that hit San Francisco in 1906. Richards says it would’ve rattled the globe – even the volcanoes on the other side of the world in India.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_124232\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 414px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/IMG_8537-e1437167252247.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-124232\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/IMG_8537-e1437167252247-800x738.jpg\" alt=\"A relative to the present day Komodo dragon, the owner of this skull (left) sported flippers and could grow more than 20 feet long. To the right in Charles Marshall's lab sits an Allosaurus foot.\" width=\"414\" height=\"382\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/IMG_8537-e1437167252247-800x738.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/IMG_8537-e1437167252247-400x369.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/IMG_8537-e1437167252247-1440x1329.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/IMG_8537-e1437167252247-1400x1292.jpg 1400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/IMG_8537-e1437167252247-1180x1089.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/IMG_8537-e1437167252247-960x886.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/IMG_8537-e1437167252247.jpg 2007w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 414px) 100vw, 414px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A relative to the present day Komodo dragon, the owner of this skull (left) sported flippers and could grow more than 20 feet long. To the right in Charles Marshall’s lab sits an Allosaurus foot. \u003ccite>(Daniel Potter/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“So the idea is that system may have been kicked into high gear by the impact.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richards is careful to say that if he’s right, and the two events are connected, we still don’t know precisely what killed the dinosaurs. Rather, the proposal points the way toward a new investigation, says Paul Renne, director of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.bgc.org/\">Berkeley Geochronology Center\u003c/a> and coauthor of Richards’ paper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We just have to abandon the idea that it’s one or the other,” Renne said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both the impact itself and a wave of volcanism would have the potential to unleash massive outpourings of noxious gases, resulting in wild swings in temperature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One factor might’ve been a release of CO2, say from so much vaporized limestone, resulting, along with other greenhouse gases, in a long-term warming effect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_124230\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 530px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/4DPotter1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-124230\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/4DPotter1-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"India’s Deccan Traps, described by geologists as a “large igneous province,” were formed over thousands of years as layer upon layer of lava flowed out and cooled, right around the same time the dinosaurs died.\" width=\"530\" height=\"397\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/4DPotter1-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/4DPotter1-400x300.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/4DPotter1-1440x1080.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/4DPotter1-1400x1050.jpg 1400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/4DPotter1-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/4DPotter1-960x720.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 530px) 100vw, 530px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">India’s Deccan Traps, described by geologists as a “large igneous province,” were formed over hundreds of thousands of years as layer upon layer of lava flowed out and cooled, right around the same time the dinosaurs died. \u003ccite>(Paul Renne/BGC)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Renne says there could’ve also been an abundance of sulfate aerosols, “which, if they get up into the atmosphere, can actually reflect enough sunlight it results in cooling.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, one could argue for a double event – sudden cooling first, followed by a long, hot period from the greenhouse effect. Whether the dinosaurs died in a single bad weekend, or the lifetime of an animal as the food web collapsed, or several millenia, remains unclear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The potential effects of either an impact or massive volcanism in many respects can be the same. The symptoms would be indistinguishable,” Renne says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Increasing Precision\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To better understand the impact and its possible connection to the eruptions in India, the next step will be establishing a narrower range of dates. For Renne, this entails using a basement room full of mass spectrometers to test rocks from the Deccan Traps. Canvas sacks full of such rocks are heaped in the hallway outside his office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m a rock aficionado, and I have lots of beautiful rocks and big crystals. These are some of the ugliest rocks you’ll ever see,” Renne said, producing a sample that to my untrained eye might as well have been gravel from a nearby quarry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_124234\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 355px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Skeletons.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-124234\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Skeletons-800x1067.jpg\" alt=\"A fossilized Pteranodon swoops above Tyrannosaurus rex at the University of California Museum of Paleontology in Berkeley.\" width=\"355\" height=\"474\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Skeletons-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Skeletons-400x533.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Skeletons-1440x1920.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Skeletons-1400x1867.jpg 1400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Skeletons-1180x1573.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/Skeletons-960x1280.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 355px) 100vw, 355px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A fossilized Pteranodon swoops above Tyrannosaurus rex at the University of California Museum of Paleontology in Berkeley. \u003ccite>(Daniel Potter/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Dating these rocks is a slow process, involving shipping a few dozen milligrams out of state to be irradiated and then sent back for testing. It can take months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearby is a wood-paneled room that houses a magnetometer — another tool for dating prehistoric rocks. This is Courtney Sprain’s speciality; she’s a Ph.D. student who also coauthored Richards’ paper.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sprain spends part of each summer in Montana gathering samples from coal beds, and told me by the end of each day she tends to resemble a chimneysweep.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the Earth’s magnetic core shifts (we’re not sure why this happens), it leaves a record in the rocks. Sprain teases out these clues to refine the timescale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re getting precision of 20-thousand years,” she says, “whereas before it was 500-thousand, a million.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Really, what would be ideal, if unrealistic, is precision down to what day of the week the impact occurred. But getting it under 10,000 years would be helpful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Geologist Eldridge Moores, a distinguished professor emeritus at U.C. Davis, known for his role in the John McPhee book “Assembling California,” says it’s like a detective trying to figure out someone’s exact time of death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You have to know that – it’s essential information before you can answer the next question, which is why. The same is true with the dinosaurs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moores was sitting with me at his house in Davis, a copy of Mark Richards’ paper on the dining room table before him, when I asked him the question: Do we know what killed the dinosaurs?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He told me no — but he thinks we’re getting closer.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Prospects for a wet winter are brightening, if predictions for the state’s “great wet hope” pan out. The \u003ca href=\"http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/ninonina.html\">ocean conditions\u003c/a> known as El Niño appear to be strengthening — but a parched California is still months away from relief — if it comes at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Federal forecasters now say that \u003ca href=\"http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/enso_advisory/\">chances are 90 percent\u003c/a> of an El Niño persisting through the coming winter — and the odds are nearly as good — 80 percent — that the tropical Pacific will stay warmer than normal into the spring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But what matters just as much is how warm those waters are; only \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2014/09/01/drought-myth-busting-why-el-nino-wont-save-california/\">the so-called “strong” events\u003c/a> are reliable rainmakers for California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Going forward right now we do favor a strong event,” says Mike Halpert, deputy director of NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Certainly at this point we don’t see this thing weakening and fading away.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_105237\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 649px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/ElNino_NOAA_150701.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-105237\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/ElNino_NOAA_150701.png\" alt=\"An El Nino forms when the usual easterly trade winds subside, allowing surface waters to warm along the equator.\" width=\"649\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/ElNino_NOAA_150701.png 649w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/ElNino_NOAA_150701-400x255.png 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 649px) 100vw, 649px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An El Nino forms when the usual easterly trade winds subside, allowing surface waters to warm along the equator. \u003ccite>(NOAA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Others are also bullish on a big event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Not a puny El Niño but a Godzilla El Niño,” adds Bill Patzert, a climatologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is much stronger than we’ve seen — this is the biggest signal since 1997.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That was that last one that Patzert would assign “Godzilla” status. That winter San Francisco got double its usual rainfall and the state was pounded with rain and snow, causing major flooding and landslides. While that could happen this time, it would also top up badly depleted reservoirs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every week this drought gets more and more punishing and by the time we hit the fall, you know everybody is definitely going to be on El Niño alert.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, the alert might be tempered a bit by memories of last year’s “El Wimpo,” the moniker that landed on an El Niño that didn’t amount to much — and certainly produced no big rains for California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I won’t say it’s night and day compared to last year,” says NOAA’s Halpert, “but certainly last year we never involved the atmosphere as the ocean temperature warmed and the ocean never really got as warm as we currently are, so there’s a big difference.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Patzert says not quite all the pieces are in place; he’s still looking for a key ingredient in the El Niño recipe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re not quite there yet,” he cautions. “The temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific are definitely building. It’s very warm out there — but what we have not seen is a large-scale collapse of the trade winds systems, which is really the critical piece.” (El Niño is not to be confused with the current “blob” of warm ocean water lingering along the California coast — they are completely separate, driven by different mechanisms.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Patzert says it would be a mistake to relax water conservation efforts throughout California. State water managers have echoed that. They too well remember last year, when early hype over El Niño may have given Californians false hope, undermining calls for water conservation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s still time for this El Niño to disappoint us,” Patzert cautions. “Don’t cash in your 401-k and invest in umbrellas…yet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Scientists say they're seeing the strongest El Nino signal since the \"Godzilla\" event of 1997-98, when San Francisco got double its usual rainfall.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Prospects for a wet winter are brightening, if predictions for the state’s “great wet hope” pan out. The \u003ca href=\"http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/ninonina.html\">ocean conditions\u003c/a> known as El Niño appear to be strengthening — but a parched California is still months away from relief — if it comes at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Federal forecasters now say that \u003ca href=\"http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/enso_advisory/\">chances are 90 percent\u003c/a> of an El Niño persisting through the coming winter — and the odds are nearly as good — 80 percent — that the tropical Pacific will stay warmer than normal into the spring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But what matters just as much is how warm those waters are; only \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2014/09/01/drought-myth-busting-why-el-nino-wont-save-california/\">the so-called “strong” events\u003c/a> are reliable rainmakers for California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Going forward right now we do favor a strong event,” says Mike Halpert, deputy director of NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Certainly at this point we don’t see this thing weakening and fading away.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_105237\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 649px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/ElNino_NOAA_150701.png\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-105237\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/ElNino_NOAA_150701.png\" alt=\"An El Nino forms when the usual easterly trade winds subside, allowing surface waters to warm along the equator.\" width=\"649\" height=\"413\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/ElNino_NOAA_150701.png 649w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/ElNino_NOAA_150701-400x255.png 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 649px) 100vw, 649px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An El Nino forms when the usual easterly trade winds subside, allowing surface waters to warm along the equator. \u003ccite>(NOAA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Others are also bullish on a big event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Not a puny El Niño but a Godzilla El Niño,” adds Bill Patzert, a climatologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is much stronger than we’ve seen — this is the biggest signal since 1997.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That was that last one that Patzert would assign “Godzilla” status. That winter San Francisco got double its usual rainfall and the state was pounded with rain and snow, causing major flooding and landslides. While that could happen this time, it would also top up badly depleted reservoirs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Every week this drought gets more and more punishing and by the time we hit the fall, you know everybody is definitely going to be on El Niño alert.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, the alert might be tempered a bit by memories of last year’s “El Wimpo,” the moniker that landed on an El Niño that didn’t amount to much — and certainly produced no big rains for California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I won’t say it’s night and day compared to last year,” says NOAA’s Halpert, “but certainly last year we never involved the atmosphere as the ocean temperature warmed and the ocean never really got as warm as we currently are, so there’s a big difference.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Patzert says not quite all the pieces are in place; he’s still looking for a key ingredient in the El Niño recipe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re not quite there yet,” he cautions. “The temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific are definitely building. It’s very warm out there — but what we have not seen is a large-scale collapse of the trade winds systems, which is really the critical piece.” (El Niño is not to be confused with the current “blob” of warm ocean water lingering along the California coast — they are completely separate, driven by different mechanisms.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Patzert says it would be a mistake to relax water conservation efforts throughout California. State water managers have echoed that. They too well remember last year, when early hype over El Niño may have given Californians false hope, undermining calls for water conservation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s still time for this El Niño to disappoint us,” Patzert cautions. “Don’t cash in your 401-k and invest in umbrellas…yet.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dl_subscribe]Have you ever wondered what the weather was like the day Hamlet premiered? Or what about the week that Spanish explorer Gaspar de Portola and his crew became the first Europeans to lay eyes on San Francisco Bay?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neil Tangri is developing a new way to look for clues about ancient weather. He and his colleagues at the \u003ca href=\"https://www6.slac.stanford.edu/\">Stanford Linear Accelerator Center\u003c/a>, also known as SLAC, are using a synchrotron – one of the world’s most powerful X-ray machines – to look deep inside coral skeletons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re trying to get a sense of long term behavior of ocean temperature and precipitation,” Tangri says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Corals are unusual creatures. Tiny animals called polyps form an exoskeleton to live in. When one polyp dies, another builds a new home from calcium carbonate right on top of the old one. Beneath lies the abandoned exoskeletons, like an ancient city made of layer upon layer of old dwellings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The coral that Tangri and his colleagues are taking X-rays of is \u003ca href=\"http://coral.aims.gov.au/factsheet.jsp?speciesCode=0320\">Porites lutea\u003c/a> from American Samoa. In the wild, these helmet-looking coral grow to be very large and very old. The samples that Tangri is imaging are only about 15 inches long, but the original core is 18 feet long and nearly 500 years old.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_102042\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/DrDunbarSampling.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-102042\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/DrDunbarSampling-1440x810.jpg\" alt=\"Researchers taking a core sample from a mature Porites lutea coral in American Samoa. \" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/DrDunbarSampling-1440x810.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/DrDunbarSampling-400x225.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/DrDunbarSampling-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/DrDunbarSampling-1180x664.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/DrDunbarSampling-960x540.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/DrDunbarSampling.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Researchers taking a core sample from a mature Porites lutea coral in American Samoa. \u003ccite>(Dr. Robert B. Dunbar)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Detailed written weather records have only been around for about 150 years. Since Tangri’s coral sample is much older, he can draw conclusions about the weather long before measurements were being written down. More importantly, Tangri can look for patterns in the data that can help them understand complex issues today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Worldwide weather patterns tend to happen in cycles. Take \u003ca href=\"http://www.elnino.noaa.gov/\">El Niño\u003c/a>, California’s sorely missed rain delivery system, which normally occurs every 2 to 7 years. Or the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/teleconnections/pdo/\">Pacific Decadal Oscillation\u003c/a>, a similar, but long-term phenomenon which cycles roughly every 25 years and can have major affects on the weather. Combing through old weather data can only get you so far, so scientists are increasingly looking at climate proxies – like corals, tree rings and ice cores – to paint a clearer picture of ancient climate.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote aligncenter\">Corals gather an incredible amount of data and we’re just now figuring out how to unlock it.\u003cbr>\n\u003ccite>Neil Tangri, Stanford University\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>To tease out clues, Tangri is taking advantage of a biological quirk in hard corals. Coral exoskeletons are mostly made of calcium carbonate. But sometimes the polyps incorporate tiny amounts of other elements from the surrounding water, including \u003ca href=\"http://periodictable.com/Elements/038/\">strontium\u003c/a>. Biologists don’t fully understand why polyps absorb strontium, but it’s a phenomenon that happens consistently across the world’s oceans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When sea surface temperatures are warmer, corals absorb less strontium into their exoskeletons. When they are colder, they absorb more. By comparing the strontium-to-calcium ratio over time, Tangri and his team are able to reconstruct sea surface temperatures. They also can chart long-term cycles that occurred over the lifespan of the coral.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The advantage of 500-year-old corals is that you can look at many 25-year weather cycles,” Tangri says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re not the first to X-ray corals, but I believe we’re the first to look at strontium-to-calcium ratio within the exoskeleton,” he adds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To be able to look for such tiny chemical changes in the coral, Tangri needed to try a new way of looking coral skeletons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stanford’s synchrotron works by accelerating particles along a circular track to 99.99% the speed of light. At that speed, electrons whip off of the atoms and form an intense X-ray beam. In fact, it’s one billion times brighter than a hospital X-ray machine. The operation looks like a scene from \u003ca href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057012/\">Dr. Strangelove\u003c/a>, and has a distinctly Cold War feeling about it. When Neil and his colleague Apurva Mehta are ready to make a scan, they have to go step-by-step through the arming procedure, which includes shutting a large steel door and two keys, to start the X-ray.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ultra-high resolution of the synchrotron X-ray allows Tangri to see with incredible detail – down to the chemical make up of the exoskeleton.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have a spatial resolution of about 10 microns,” Tangri says. That means he can see how the coral grew almost down to the week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tangri’s goal for analyzing corals extends beyond filling in some blanks about ancient weather. He says that he hopes to further refine the imaging process to be able to answer specific questions about weather patterns, like when the monsoons arrive in India. Nearly a billion people there rely on the rain to grow their crops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To find that out, Tangri is looking for an element that indicates precipitation. \u003ca href=\"http://periodictable.com/Elements/056/index.html\">Barium\u003c/a> is commonly found in soils on land. When it rains, soil washes from into the ocean, where the corals absorb some of it into their exoskeletons. If there’s a significant rise in barium, it can indicate when it rained a lot – like a monsoon. He has already been able to chart the arrival of the monsoons in East Africa from another sample taken near Kenya.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Corals gather an incredible amount of data and we’re just now figuring out how to unlock it,” Tangri says.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Have you ever wondered what the weather was like the day Hamlet premiered? Or what about the week that Spanish explorer Gaspar de Portola and his crew became the first Europeans to lay eyes on San Francisco Bay?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neil Tangri is developing a new way to look for clues about ancient weather. He and his colleagues at the \u003ca href=\"https://www6.slac.stanford.edu/\">Stanford Linear Accelerator Center\u003c/a>, also known as SLAC, are using a synchrotron – one of the world’s most powerful X-ray machines – to look deep inside coral skeletons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re trying to get a sense of long term behavior of ocean temperature and precipitation,” Tangri says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Corals are unusual creatures. Tiny animals called polyps form an exoskeleton to live in. When one polyp dies, another builds a new home from calcium carbonate right on top of the old one. Beneath lies the abandoned exoskeletons, like an ancient city made of layer upon layer of old dwellings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The coral that Tangri and his colleagues are taking X-rays of is \u003ca href=\"http://coral.aims.gov.au/factsheet.jsp?speciesCode=0320\">Porites lutea\u003c/a> from American Samoa. In the wild, these helmet-looking coral grow to be very large and very old. The samples that Tangri is imaging are only about 15 inches long, but the original core is 18 feet long and nearly 500 years old.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_102042\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/DrDunbarSampling.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-102042\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/DrDunbarSampling-1440x810.jpg\" alt=\"Researchers taking a core sample from a mature Porites lutea coral in American Samoa. \" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/DrDunbarSampling-1440x810.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/DrDunbarSampling-400x225.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/DrDunbarSampling-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/DrDunbarSampling-1180x664.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/DrDunbarSampling-960x540.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/DrDunbarSampling.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Researchers taking a core sample from a mature Porites lutea coral in American Samoa. \u003ccite>(Dr. Robert B. Dunbar)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Detailed written weather records have only been around for about 150 years. Since Tangri’s coral sample is much older, he can draw conclusions about the weather long before measurements were being written down. More importantly, Tangri can look for patterns in the data that can help them understand complex issues today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Worldwide weather patterns tend to happen in cycles. Take \u003ca href=\"http://www.elnino.noaa.gov/\">El Niño\u003c/a>, California’s sorely missed rain delivery system, which normally occurs every 2 to 7 years. Or the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/teleconnections/pdo/\">Pacific Decadal Oscillation\u003c/a>, a similar, but long-term phenomenon which cycles roughly every 25 years and can have major affects on the weather. Combing through old weather data can only get you so far, so scientists are increasingly looking at climate proxies – like corals, tree rings and ice cores – to paint a clearer picture of ancient climate.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote aligncenter\">Corals gather an incredible amount of data and we’re just now figuring out how to unlock it.\u003cbr>\n\u003ccite>Neil Tangri, Stanford University\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>To tease out clues, Tangri is taking advantage of a biological quirk in hard corals. Coral exoskeletons are mostly made of calcium carbonate. But sometimes the polyps incorporate tiny amounts of other elements from the surrounding water, including \u003ca href=\"http://periodictable.com/Elements/038/\">strontium\u003c/a>. Biologists don’t fully understand why polyps absorb strontium, but it’s a phenomenon that happens consistently across the world’s oceans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When sea surface temperatures are warmer, corals absorb less strontium into their exoskeletons. When they are colder, they absorb more. By comparing the strontium-to-calcium ratio over time, Tangri and his team are able to reconstruct sea surface temperatures. They also can chart long-term cycles that occurred over the lifespan of the coral.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The advantage of 500-year-old corals is that you can look at many 25-year weather cycles,” Tangri says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re not the first to X-ray corals, but I believe we’re the first to look at strontium-to-calcium ratio within the exoskeleton,” he adds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To be able to look for such tiny chemical changes in the coral, Tangri needed to try a new way of looking coral skeletons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stanford’s synchrotron works by accelerating particles along a circular track to 99.99% the speed of light. At that speed, electrons whip off of the atoms and form an intense X-ray beam. In fact, it’s one billion times brighter than a hospital X-ray machine. The operation looks like a scene from \u003ca href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057012/\">Dr. Strangelove\u003c/a>, and has a distinctly Cold War feeling about it. When Neil and his colleague Apurva Mehta are ready to make a scan, they have to go step-by-step through the arming procedure, which includes shutting a large steel door and two keys, to start the X-ray.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ultra-high resolution of the synchrotron X-ray allows Tangri to see with incredible detail – down to the chemical make up of the exoskeleton.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have a spatial resolution of about 10 microns,” Tangri says. That means he can see how the coral grew almost down to the week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tangri’s goal for analyzing corals extends beyond filling in some blanks about ancient weather. He says that he hopes to further refine the imaging process to be able to answer specific questions about weather patterns, like when the monsoons arrive in India. Nearly a billion people there rely on the rain to grow their crops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To find that out, Tangri is looking for an element that indicates precipitation. \u003ca href=\"http://periodictable.com/Elements/056/index.html\">Barium\u003c/a> is commonly found in soils on land. When it rains, soil washes from into the ocean, where the corals absorb some of it into their exoskeletons. If there’s a significant rise in barium, it can indicate when it rained a lot – like a monsoon. He has already been able to chart the arrival of the monsoons in East Africa from another sample taken near Kenya.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Corals gather an incredible amount of data and we’re just now figuring out how to unlock it,” Tangri says.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Self-Driving Taxis: Great for Cutting Emissions, Not So Great for Cabbies",
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"content": "\u003cp>If cab drivers see Uber as a threat, wait until the robo-cabs arrive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nclimate2685.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">A study\u003c/a> released Monday by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory suggests that a fleet of self-driving electric taxis could save money and reduce personal vehicle emissions by 87–94 percent per mile in 2030.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a good example of the cheapest option also being the most environmentally friendly,” says \u003ca href=\"http://eetd.lbl.gov/people/jeffery-greenblatt\">Jeff Greenblatt\u003c/a>, the energy technology researcher who led the study. “You don’t often find that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Personal vehicles are responsible for about 14 percent of \u003ca href=\"http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/sources/transportation.html\">total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions\u003c/a> each year. But electric robo-cabs could finally \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iezUmvPUDGw&feature=youtu.be\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tip the economic balance\u003c/a> in favor of electric vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shared-use taxis would put in many more miles than personal cars. A typical private vehicle only travels about 12,000 miles per year, while taxis in the U.S. can log anywhere from 40,000 to 70,000 miles per year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A driverless taxi could travel even farther, since it wouldn’t have to stop for breaks and could recharge itself unsupervised.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Driving Efficiency\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Racking up that kind of mileage would also require more maintenance, so choosing the most efficient design would be critical.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=”1hGFNXZxxXiq05wZlIAZXLW7Fw5Mlk5N”]”Under this scenario, battery electrics really come up on top as the lowest-cost transportation option,” says Greenblatt. Even with expected advances to internal combustion engines, he says electric cars will go farther on less energy and money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In terms of emissions, it would be like getting 158 miles per gallon of gas. Of course, electrics are only as “green” as the power they’re plugging into.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are in a period of unprecedented transformation to the electric grid, in terms of becoming much more focused on renewables than we were before,” says Greenblatt, “and that helps make electric drive a lower greenhouse gas alternative.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the LBNL scenario, cabs could also shrink substantially. A fleet of very small one-or-two-person cars could satisfy the majority of driving needs in cities, but that wouldn’t necessarily mean riding around in “clown cars.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It would be kind of like a combination between Zipcar and a chauffeur service,” explains Greenblatt. “[The taxi] would pick you up and drop you off wherever you want, you don’t have to worry about refueling it because it would go charge itself, and you can get the right kind of car you need for that trip.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Drivers Not Wanted\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fares would also be lower in self-driving taxis, since 57 percent of cab fares currently go to drivers. Greenblatt concedes that this could have considerable social impacts.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">‘We do recognize that if we replace drivers with robots, there are going to be people out of a job.’\u003ccite> Jeff Greenblatt,energy technology researcher\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“We do recognize that if we replace drivers with robots, there are going to be people out of a job. We need to acknowledge that and think about how we can respond,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a really interesting idea,” says \u003ca href=\"http://www.stanford.edu/%7Erclewlow/Home.html\">Regina Clewlow\u003c/a>, a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University, who studies household transportation and energy decisions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She agrees that self-driving taxis would likely make electric vehicles more cost-effective. But she also thinks that more research will be needed. For example, self-driving cars might completely change travel demands in cities in unpredictable ways.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, Clewlow notes that just because self-driving electric taxis would be the lowest cost option, doesn’t mean they’re what people will want.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If all people made their choices based on the lowest cost alternatives, we wouldn’t have things like Teslas or Porsches.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>If cab drivers see Uber as a threat, wait until the robo-cabs arrive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nclimate2685.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">A study\u003c/a> released Monday by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory suggests that a fleet of self-driving electric taxis could save money and reduce personal vehicle emissions by 87–94 percent per mile in 2030.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a good example of the cheapest option also being the most environmentally friendly,” says \u003ca href=\"http://eetd.lbl.gov/people/jeffery-greenblatt\">Jeff Greenblatt\u003c/a>, the energy technology researcher who led the study. “You don’t often find that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Personal vehicles are responsible for about 14 percent of \u003ca href=\"http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/ghgemissions/sources/transportation.html\">total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions\u003c/a> each year. But electric robo-cabs could finally \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iezUmvPUDGw&feature=youtu.be\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tip the economic balance\u003c/a> in favor of electric vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shared-use taxis would put in many more miles than personal cars. A typical private vehicle only travels about 12,000 miles per year, while taxis in the U.S. can log anywhere from 40,000 to 70,000 miles per year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A driverless taxi could travel even farther, since it wouldn’t have to stop for breaks and could recharge itself unsupervised.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Driving Efficiency\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Racking up that kind of mileage would also require more maintenance, so choosing the most efficient design would be critical.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>”Under this scenario, battery electrics really come up on top as the lowest-cost transportation option,” says Greenblatt. Even with expected advances to internal combustion engines, he says electric cars will go farther on less energy and money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In terms of emissions, it would be like getting 158 miles per gallon of gas. Of course, electrics are only as “green” as the power they’re plugging into.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are in a period of unprecedented transformation to the electric grid, in terms of becoming much more focused on renewables than we were before,” says Greenblatt, “and that helps make electric drive a lower greenhouse gas alternative.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the LBNL scenario, cabs could also shrink substantially. A fleet of very small one-or-two-person cars could satisfy the majority of driving needs in cities, but that wouldn’t necessarily mean riding around in “clown cars.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It would be kind of like a combination between Zipcar and a chauffeur service,” explains Greenblatt. “[The taxi] would pick you up and drop you off wherever you want, you don’t have to worry about refueling it because it would go charge itself, and you can get the right kind of car you need for that trip.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Drivers Not Wanted\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fares would also be lower in self-driving taxis, since 57 percent of cab fares currently go to drivers. Greenblatt concedes that this could have considerable social impacts.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">‘We do recognize that if we replace drivers with robots, there are going to be people out of a job.’\u003ccite> Jeff Greenblatt,energy technology researcher\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“We do recognize that if we replace drivers with robots, there are going to be people out of a job. We need to acknowledge that and think about how we can respond,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a really interesting idea,” says \u003ca href=\"http://www.stanford.edu/%7Erclewlow/Home.html\">Regina Clewlow\u003c/a>, a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University, who studies household transportation and energy decisions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She agrees that self-driving taxis would likely make electric vehicles more cost-effective. But she also thinks that more research will be needed. For example, self-driving cars might completely change travel demands in cities in unpredictable ways.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, Clewlow notes that just because self-driving electric taxis would be the lowest cost option, doesn’t mean they’re what people will want.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If all people made their choices based on the lowest cost alternatives, we wouldn’t have things like Teslas or Porsches.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Contrails Change Temperatures on the Ground Beneath Them",
"headTitle": "Contrails Change Temperatures on the Ground Beneath Them | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Contrails—those cloudy tracks laid across the sky by jet planes—have a noteworthy effect on the local climate below, new research shows. \u003ca href=\"http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/joc.4303/abstract\">A study\u003c/a> recently published in the \u003ca href=\"http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/%28ISSN%291097-0088\">International Journal of Climatology\u003c/a> suggests that in places where jets and their contrails are common, meteorologists could routinely add their effects to weather forecasts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Contrails form wherever jets fly through the right atmospheric conditions. Water vapor in a jet’s exhaust condenses into water droplets or ice crystals, \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2015/05/07/pollen-grains-have-newfound-role-seeding-rain-clouds/\">aided by microscopic seed particles from smoke, dust or pollen\u003c/a>. The result is an instant cloud tracing the jet’s route through the air. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A contrail may evaporate quickly or persist for hours, depending on temperature and humidity conditions. Winds may smear it out. If enough contrails are present, they may combine into a thin carpet of high cloud.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Contrails are more than just a pretty sky feature or aerial annoyance. Scientists saw a dramatic example of their importance in September 2001, when the U.S. government grounded commercial airlines for three days in the wake of the 9-11 terrorist attack. During that time, areas that were prone to contrails, like the Midwest, had significantly warmer days and cooler nights.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study’s authors, \u003ca href=\"http://www.geog.psu.edu/people/bernhardt-jase\">Jase Bernhardt\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://www.geog.psu.edu/people/carleton-andrew\">Andrew Carleton\u003c/a>, are two atmospheric researchers at Penn State University who made a more systematic effort to study the effects of contrails on daily temperatures. They learned that contrail “outbreaks” have definite effects on ground temperatures, and those effects may be predictable. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The researchers looked for contrails in satellite images, examining regions of the U.S. where contrails are common. To avoid the effects of snow and other influences, they picked the South in January 2008 and 2009, and the Midwest in April 2008 and 2009. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_89333\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/contrails-englishchannel.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/contrails-englishchannel-800x640.jpg\" alt=\"Contrails in a satellite image\" width=\"800\" height=\"640\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-89333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/contrails-englishchannel.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/contrails-englishchannel-400x320.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Contrails, like these over the English Channel in 2003, are easily visible in satellite images. (\u003ca href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasamarshall/16036915978/\">Marshall Space Flight Center\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>They found satellite images from clear days in which multiple contrails appeared, selecting outbreaks that lasted more than four hours. For each outbreak, they looked at the records from a weather station beneath the contrails and another station less than 100 miles away without contrails. For instance, they paired weather records on April 2, 2009 from Erie, Pennsylvania (contrails) and Buffalo, New York (no contrails).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The results were clear. By warming the nights and cooling the days, contrails reduced the daily temperature range, on average, by 6.4 degrees Fahrenheit in the South in January, and 5.3 degrees in the Midwest in April. Individual cases varied, though, from no effect to as much as 27 degrees. The effect on daytime highs was greater than the effect on nighttime lows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To make sure of their findings, Bernhardt and Carleton also compared the same pairs of weather stations on the day before and the day after the contrail outbreaks, and found the temperature effect disappeared without the presence of contrails.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Professor Carleton explains the research in this video from Penn State University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7O8FGUtLNfU&w=560&h=315]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In causing warmer nights and cooler days, contrails act like ordinary clouds. We see the same effect in the Bay Area whenever a blanket of “marine layer” clouds covers the countryside. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If these results hold up in further studies and in other regions, they may lead to more accurate predictions of daytime highs and nighttime lows in areas of high jet traffic. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>High-precision weather services—or “nowcasters”—can make use of this new advance with their customers. Fruit growers, for instance, keep close track of the expected nighttime “chilling hours” their orchards require during winter dormancy. Electricity providers need precise forecasts when high daytime temperatures could threaten to overload the power supply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the globe continues to warm, our ability to model the new climates in every locality will grow with each scrap of atmospheric knowledge we can win from nature. Even small changes in the daily temperature range can ripple through the master equations of climate models.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As air travel increases in coming decades, this new finding can help us better predict and manage the side effects of this crucial tool of civilization.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "The warmer nights and cooler days caused by these sky streaks could be part of weather forecasts someday.",
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"headline": "Contrails Change Temperatures on the Ground Beneath Them",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Contrails—those cloudy tracks laid across the sky by jet planes—have a noteworthy effect on the local climate below, new research shows. \u003ca href=\"http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/joc.4303/abstract\">A study\u003c/a> recently published in the \u003ca href=\"http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/%28ISSN%291097-0088\">International Journal of Climatology\u003c/a> suggests that in places where jets and their contrails are common, meteorologists could routinely add their effects to weather forecasts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Contrails form wherever jets fly through the right atmospheric conditions. Water vapor in a jet’s exhaust condenses into water droplets or ice crystals, \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2015/05/07/pollen-grains-have-newfound-role-seeding-rain-clouds/\">aided by microscopic seed particles from smoke, dust or pollen\u003c/a>. The result is an instant cloud tracing the jet’s route through the air. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A contrail may evaporate quickly or persist for hours, depending on temperature and humidity conditions. Winds may smear it out. If enough contrails are present, they may combine into a thin carpet of high cloud.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Contrails are more than just a pretty sky feature or aerial annoyance. Scientists saw a dramatic example of their importance in September 2001, when the U.S. government grounded commercial airlines for three days in the wake of the 9-11 terrorist attack. During that time, areas that were prone to contrails, like the Midwest, had significantly warmer days and cooler nights.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study’s authors, \u003ca href=\"http://www.geog.psu.edu/people/bernhardt-jase\">Jase Bernhardt\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"http://www.geog.psu.edu/people/carleton-andrew\">Andrew Carleton\u003c/a>, are two atmospheric researchers at Penn State University who made a more systematic effort to study the effects of contrails on daily temperatures. They learned that contrail “outbreaks” have definite effects on ground temperatures, and those effects may be predictable. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The researchers looked for contrails in satellite images, examining regions of the U.S. where contrails are common. To avoid the effects of snow and other influences, they picked the South in January 2008 and 2009, and the Midwest in April 2008 and 2009. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_89333\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/contrails-englishchannel.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/contrails-englishchannel-800x640.jpg\" alt=\"Contrails in a satellite image\" width=\"800\" height=\"640\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-89333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/contrails-englishchannel.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/contrails-englishchannel-400x320.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Contrails, like these over the English Channel in 2003, are easily visible in satellite images. (\u003ca href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasamarshall/16036915978/\">Marshall Space Flight Center\u003c/a>)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>They found satellite images from clear days in which multiple contrails appeared, selecting outbreaks that lasted more than four hours. For each outbreak, they looked at the records from a weather station beneath the contrails and another station less than 100 miles away without contrails. For instance, they paired weather records on April 2, 2009 from Erie, Pennsylvania (contrails) and Buffalo, New York (no contrails).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The results were clear. By warming the nights and cooling the days, contrails reduced the daily temperature range, on average, by 6.4 degrees Fahrenheit in the South in January, and 5.3 degrees in the Midwest in April. Individual cases varied, though, from no effect to as much as 27 degrees. The effect on daytime highs was greater than the effect on nighttime lows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To make sure of their findings, Bernhardt and Carleton also compared the same pairs of weather stations on the day before and the day after the contrail outbreaks, and found the temperature effect disappeared without the presence of contrails.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Professor Carleton explains the research in this video from Penn State University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/7O8FGUtLNfU'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/7O8FGUtLNfU'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In causing warmer nights and cooler days, contrails act like ordinary clouds. We see the same effect in the Bay Area whenever a blanket of “marine layer” clouds covers the countryside. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If these results hold up in further studies and in other regions, they may lead to more accurate predictions of daytime highs and nighttime lows in areas of high jet traffic. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>High-precision weather services—or “nowcasters”—can make use of this new advance with their customers. Fruit growers, for instance, keep close track of the expected nighttime “chilling hours” their orchards require during winter dormancy. Electricity providers need precise forecasts when high daytime temperatures could threaten to overload the power supply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the globe continues to warm, our ability to model the new climates in every locality will grow with each scrap of atmospheric knowledge we can win from nature. Even small changes in the daily temperature range can ripple through the master equations of climate models.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As air travel increases in coming decades, this new finding can help us better predict and manage the side effects of this crucial tool of civilization.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Climate Change Threatens Wildflower Diversity in California",
"headTitle": "Climate Change Threatens Wildflower Diversity in California | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Wildflowers are the newest addition to the growing list of \u003ca href=\"http://www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_26496884/climate-change-threatens-many-bird-species\">California species\u003c/a> being hit hard by climate change. \u003ca href=\"http://m.pnas.org/content/early/2015/06/17/1502074112\">A new study\u003c/a> from UC Davis shows that drier winters are causing big declines in the state’s native wildflowers, the first direct evidence of how climate change is affecting California’s grasslands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California is one of the world’s most special places for plant diversity,” says \u003ca href=\"http://www.des.ucdavis.edu/faculty/Harrison/index.html\">Susan Harrison\u003c/a>, professor of environmental science and policy at UC Davis and the study’s lead author.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So this is very significant from the perspective of global biodiversity loss.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The gradual loss of diversity could also affect pollinators and other animals that are associated with native wildflowers. Since bees and other insects rely on these flowers for nutrients, the decline in flower diversity means the animals will have to look elsewhere and travel farther for food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the last 15 years, the authors of the study have been documenting plant species near \u003ca href=\"http://nrs.ucdavis.edu/McL/index.html\">McLaughlin Natural Reserve\u003c/a>, about 80 miles north of San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In that time, the average number of plant species in each of their study plots has steadily declined. The declines were most pronounced in native wildflower species that can’t tolerate drought, like California Goldfield or Whitetip Clover.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At first I thought, you know, it’s just gotten grassier out here,” says Harrison, who has been working in the area since 2000. “But that was really an optical illusion. It’s just gotten less flowery.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_63209\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/94003.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-63209 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/94003-400x300.jpg\" alt=\"A wildflower grassland in McLaughlin Natural Reserve. The new studies suggest grasslands are losing wildflower diversity with climate change.\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/94003-400x300.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/94003-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/94003-1440x1080.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/94003-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/94003-960x720.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A wildflower grassland in McLaughlin Natural Reserve. The new study suggests grasslands are losing wildflower diversity with climate change. \u003ccite>(UC Davis)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In their analysis, the researchers considered other causes for the declines in diversity, such as grazing history, wildfires, \u003ca href=\"http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/9201/20140926/trees-threaten-growing-grasslands.htm\">invading trees and shrubs\u003c/a> and nonnative species.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the only thing that really explained the patterns of diversity loss that they observed was climate change – specifically, the recent trend toward drier winters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This result isn’t just an effect of the historic drought of the last few years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the researchers removed the data from 2013 and 2014, they still saw the same pattern. Wildflower diversity was already declining before the drought hit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most wildflower seeds germinate in the fall and grow slowly through the rainy winter months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But longer dry spells in the winter are desiccating the upper few inches of the soil. And warmer temperatures mean the scant rain that does fall will evaporate faster.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is bad news for the vulnerable wildflower seedlings, particularly those with thin leaves and shallow roots that can also dry out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_68747\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/8319167234_07f6d2cb3f_o.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-68747 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/8319167234_07f6d2cb3f_o-400x400.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/8319167234_07f6d2cb3f_o-400x400.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/8319167234_07f6d2cb3f_o-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/8319167234_07f6d2cb3f_o-1440x1440.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/8319167234_07f6d2cb3f_o-1180x1180.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/8319167234_07f6d2cb3f_o-960x960.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/8319167234_07f6d2cb3f_o-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/8319167234_07f6d2cb3f_o-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/8319167234_07f6d2cb3f_o-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/8319167234_07f6d2cb3f_o-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/8319167234_07f6d2cb3f_o-75x75.jpg 75w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/8319167234_07f6d2cb3f_o.jpg 1499w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Lupine seedling shortly after germination. California hosts dozens of Lupine species, many of which live in the Sierras and their foothills. \u003ccite>(Ellen A./flickr)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It is relatively easy to measure declines in biodiversity, but much more difficult for scientists to pinpoint what aspect of the changing climate is causing the declines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>K\u003cspan class=\"TextRun SCX206373414\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\">\u003cspan class=\"NormalTextRun SCX206373414\">nowing that drought-intolerant species with thinner leaves were declining the most gives the researchers more confidence that drier winters are the culprit. \u003c/span>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"TextRun SCX206373414\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\">\u003cspan class=\"NormalTextRun SCX206373414\">“Adding these simple measurements of the leaves provides a lot of context as to what’s going on,” says David Ackerly, a plant scientist at UC Berkeley.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"TextRun SCX7474266\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\">\u003cspan class=\"NormalTextRun SCX7474266\">Ackerly notes that climate models are uncertain about whether California will get wetter or drier in the future, but that the trends in this study are important indicators of how climate change can affect our native plant communities. \u003c/span>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It also illustrates how incredibly important these long-term studies are,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The declines observed in this study may foreshadow diversity loss on a larger scale, particularly in areas that are expected to become warmer and drier in the future.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Wildflowers are the newest addition to the growing list of \u003ca href=\"http://www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_26496884/climate-change-threatens-many-bird-species\">California species\u003c/a> being hit hard by climate change. \u003ca href=\"http://m.pnas.org/content/early/2015/06/17/1502074112\">A new study\u003c/a> from UC Davis shows that drier winters are causing big declines in the state’s native wildflowers, the first direct evidence of how climate change is affecting California’s grasslands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California is one of the world’s most special places for plant diversity,” says \u003ca href=\"http://www.des.ucdavis.edu/faculty/Harrison/index.html\">Susan Harrison\u003c/a>, professor of environmental science and policy at UC Davis and the study’s lead author.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So this is very significant from the perspective of global biodiversity loss.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The gradual loss of diversity could also affect pollinators and other animals that are associated with native wildflowers. Since bees and other insects rely on these flowers for nutrients, the decline in flower diversity means the animals will have to look elsewhere and travel farther for food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the last 15 years, the authors of the study have been documenting plant species near \u003ca href=\"http://nrs.ucdavis.edu/McL/index.html\">McLaughlin Natural Reserve\u003c/a>, about 80 miles north of San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In that time, the average number of plant species in each of their study plots has steadily declined. The declines were most pronounced in native wildflower species that can’t tolerate drought, like California Goldfield or Whitetip Clover.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At first I thought, you know, it’s just gotten grassier out here,” says Harrison, who has been working in the area since 2000. “But that was really an optical illusion. It’s just gotten less flowery.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_63209\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/94003.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-63209 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/94003-400x300.jpg\" alt=\"A wildflower grassland in McLaughlin Natural Reserve. The new studies suggest grasslands are losing wildflower diversity with climate change.\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/94003-400x300.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/94003-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/94003-1440x1080.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/94003-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/94003-960x720.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A wildflower grassland in McLaughlin Natural Reserve. The new study suggests grasslands are losing wildflower diversity with climate change. \u003ccite>(UC Davis)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In their analysis, the researchers considered other causes for the declines in diversity, such as grazing history, wildfires, \u003ca href=\"http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/9201/20140926/trees-threaten-growing-grasslands.htm\">invading trees and shrubs\u003c/a> and nonnative species.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the only thing that really explained the patterns of diversity loss that they observed was climate change – specifically, the recent trend toward drier winters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This result isn’t just an effect of the historic drought of the last few years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the researchers removed the data from 2013 and 2014, they still saw the same pattern. Wildflower diversity was already declining before the drought hit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Most wildflower seeds germinate in the fall and grow slowly through the rainy winter months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But longer dry spells in the winter are desiccating the upper few inches of the soil. And warmer temperatures mean the scant rain that does fall will evaporate faster.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is bad news for the vulnerable wildflower seedlings, particularly those with thin leaves and shallow roots that can also dry out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_68747\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/8319167234_07f6d2cb3f_o.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-68747 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/8319167234_07f6d2cb3f_o-400x400.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/8319167234_07f6d2cb3f_o-400x400.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/8319167234_07f6d2cb3f_o-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/8319167234_07f6d2cb3f_o-1440x1440.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/8319167234_07f6d2cb3f_o-1180x1180.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/8319167234_07f6d2cb3f_o-960x960.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/8319167234_07f6d2cb3f_o-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/8319167234_07f6d2cb3f_o-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/8319167234_07f6d2cb3f_o-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/8319167234_07f6d2cb3f_o-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/8319167234_07f6d2cb3f_o-75x75.jpg 75w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/8319167234_07f6d2cb3f_o.jpg 1499w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Lupine seedling shortly after germination. California hosts dozens of Lupine species, many of which live in the Sierras and their foothills. \u003ccite>(Ellen A./flickr)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It is relatively easy to measure declines in biodiversity, but much more difficult for scientists to pinpoint what aspect of the changing climate is causing the declines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>K\u003cspan class=\"TextRun SCX206373414\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\">\u003cspan class=\"NormalTextRun SCX206373414\">nowing that drought-intolerant species with thinner leaves were declining the most gives the researchers more confidence that drier winters are the culprit. \u003c/span>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"TextRun SCX206373414\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\">\u003cspan class=\"NormalTextRun SCX206373414\">“Adding these simple measurements of the leaves provides a lot of context as to what’s going on,” says David Ackerly, a plant scientist at UC Berkeley.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"TextRun SCX7474266\" xml:lang=\"EN-US\">\u003cspan class=\"NormalTextRun SCX7474266\">Ackerly notes that climate models are uncertain about whether California will get wetter or drier in the future, but that the trends in this study are important indicators of how climate change can affect our native plant communities. \u003c/span>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It also illustrates how incredibly important these long-term studies are,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The declines observed in this study may foreshadow diversity loss on a larger scale, particularly in areas that are expected to become warmer and drier in the future.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Pope Francis today issued a \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/06/18/world/europe/encyclical-laudato-si.html?smid=tw-nytimes\">sweeping 184-page papal letter\u003c/a>, writing that climate change is a global problem with far reaching environmental and social consequences — especially for the poor. He blamed apathy and greed and called on developing countries to limit the use of nonrenewable energy and to assist poorer nations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Those who possess more resources and economic or political power seem mostly to be concerned with masking the problems or concealing their symptoms,” Francis wrote of the impact of climate change in the encyclical titled “Laudato Si,” or “Praise Be.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He called on humanity to collectively acknowledge a “sense of responsibility for our fellow men and women upon which all civil society is founded.” And he wrote that climate change “represents one of the principal challenges facing humanity in our day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Francis said that developing countries, as the biggest producers of harmful greenhouse gasses, owe the poorer nations a debt. “The developed countries ought to help pay this debt by significantly limiting their consumption of nonrenewable energy and by assisting poorer countries to support policies and programs of sustainable development.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In one particularly blunt passage, Francis writes: “The earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth. In many parts of the planet, the elderly lament that once beautiful landscapes are now covered with rubbish. … Frequently no measures are taken until after people’s health has been irreversibly affected.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The letter has put the pope firmly on the side of the world’s climate scientists, an overwhelming number of whom say that the Earth is warming and that mankind is responsible for a substantial portion of the temperature rise. \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/06/17/415234013/the-pope-is-about-to-weigh-in-on-climate-change-not-everyone-is-happy\">As we reported on Wednesday\u003c/a>, that also places him at odds with “climate skeptics,” including many Republican lawmakers and GOP presidential candidates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the encyclical is being praised by environmental groups. In a statement from WWF International, President Yolanda Kakabadse called the pope’s voice “a much needed moral approach to the climate debate. Climate change is no longer just a scientific issue; it is increasingly a moral and ethical one.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vincent Miller, who holds a chair in Catholic theology and culture at the University of Dayton, is quoted by \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/19/world/europe/pope-francis-in-sweeping-encyclical-calls-for-swift-action-on-climate-change.html?_r=0\">The New York Times\u003c/a> as saying that the encyclical “gives Francis a very traditional basis to argue for the inclusion of environmental concern at the center of Christian faith.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Critics will say the church can’t teach policy, the church can’t teach politics,” Miller said. “And Francis is saying, ‘No, these things are at the core of the church’s teaching.’ ” \u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Pope+Francis%3A+Climate+Change+A+%27Principal+Challenge%27+For+Humanity&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Pope Francis today issued a \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/06/18/world/europe/encyclical-laudato-si.html?smid=tw-nytimes\">sweeping 184-page papal letter\u003c/a>, writing that climate change is a global problem with far reaching environmental and social consequences — especially for the poor. He blamed apathy and greed and called on developing countries to limit the use of nonrenewable energy and to assist poorer nations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Those who possess more resources and economic or political power seem mostly to be concerned with masking the problems or concealing their symptoms,” Francis wrote of the impact of climate change in the encyclical titled “Laudato Si,” or “Praise Be.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He called on humanity to collectively acknowledge a “sense of responsibility for our fellow men and women upon which all civil society is founded.” And he wrote that climate change “represents one of the principal challenges facing humanity in our day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Francis said that developing countries, as the biggest producers of harmful greenhouse gasses, owe the poorer nations a debt. “The developed countries ought to help pay this debt by significantly limiting their consumption of nonrenewable energy and by assisting poorer countries to support policies and programs of sustainable development.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In one particularly blunt passage, Francis writes: “The earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth. In many parts of the planet, the elderly lament that once beautiful landscapes are now covered with rubbish. … Frequently no measures are taken until after people’s health has been irreversibly affected.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The letter has put the pope firmly on the side of the world’s climate scientists, an overwhelming number of whom say that the Earth is warming and that mankind is responsible for a substantial portion of the temperature rise. \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/06/17/415234013/the-pope-is-about-to-weigh-in-on-climate-change-not-everyone-is-happy\">As we reported on Wednesday\u003c/a>, that also places him at odds with “climate skeptics,” including many Republican lawmakers and GOP presidential candidates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the encyclical is being praised by environmental groups. In a statement from WWF International, President Yolanda Kakabadse called the pope’s voice “a much needed moral approach to the climate debate. Climate change is no longer just a scientific issue; it is increasingly a moral and ethical one.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vincent Miller, who holds a chair in Catholic theology and culture at the University of Dayton, is quoted by \u003ca href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/19/world/europe/pope-francis-in-sweeping-encyclical-calls-for-swift-action-on-climate-change.html?_r=0\">The New York Times\u003c/a> as saying that the encyclical “gives Francis a very traditional basis to argue for the inclusion of environmental concern at the center of Christian faith.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Critics will say the church can’t teach policy, the church can’t teach politics,” Miller said. “And Francis is saying, ‘No, these things are at the core of the church’s teaching.’ ” \u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Pope+Francis%3A+Climate+Change+A+%27Principal+Challenge%27+For+Humanity&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Young Mars: The Red Planet Started Out White",
"headTitle": "Young Mars: The Red Planet Started Out White | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Mars is full of evidence that running water once crisscrossed its surface. Many scientists argue that in its early days, the red planet was nearly blue—a relatively warm place with lakes and even an ocean around its north pole. But a sophisticated climate model suggests instead that Mars started out as a cold, icy planet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’ve always wondered whether Mars has supported life. Just a century ago, Mars was widely thought to be inhabited by intelligent beings who had built a gigantic network of canals to cope with its desert climate. (The canals are now explained as optical illusions affecting telescopic observers.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, even though the planet appears completely sterile, it’s still a driving question whether Mars has ever had the conditions for life to begin, or at least to survive.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">The quest for life on Mars needs to answer two questions: When was Mars wet? And for how long?\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Mars today is bone-dry and colder than Antarctica. Although it must have formed originally with lots of water and air, its weak gravity couldn’t keep water vapor and other gases from escaping to space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But we’re sure that during its first billion years or so, before the atmosphere escaped, Mars had rain and snow. Scientists think there was probably water enough for a large ocean in the lowlands around its north pole.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The evidence is compelling. Orbiting spacecraft have mapped landforms that can only be riverbeds, water-carved canyons and coastlines from a former ocean basin. Robot landers have photographed features in rocks, like \u003ca href=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/2013/01/17/placing-a-bet-on-the-surface-of-mars/\">crossbeds in sandstone\u003c/a>, that only flowing water can produce. And they’ve found chemical evidence of minerals, like clays and \u003ca href=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/2012/01/05/a-most-earthly-mineral-on-mars/\">gypsum\u003c/a>, that require water to form.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The presence of water proves Mars once had what scientists call habitable conditions. But it’s not enough just to establish that water once existed. The evidence from Earth suggests it takes many millions of years, and a specific range of physical and chemical conditions, for life to \u003ci>arise\u003c/i>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_58718\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 504px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/Mars.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-58718\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/Mars-1440x900.jpg\" alt=\"This image shows layered sedimentary rocks on the floor of an impact crater north of Eberswalde Crater. There may have been a lake in this crater billions of years ago. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona)\" width=\"504\" height=\"315\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/Mars-1440x900.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/Mars-400x250.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/Mars-800x500.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/Mars-1180x738.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/Mars-960x600.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 504px) 100vw, 504px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This image shows layered sedimentary rocks on the floor of an impact crater north of Eberswalde Crater. There may have been a lake in this crater billions of years ago. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The quest for life on Mars needs to answer two questions: When was Mars wet? And for how long?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The evidence allows some scientists to argue that Mars was warm and wet very early, between 4 and 3 billion years ago. (All the planets are about 4.6 billion years old.) Others hold that conditions must have been dry and frozen most of the time, with brief periods of warmth and running water after geologic events like major volcanic episodes or large asteroid impacts. The prospects for life on Mars depend strongly on these details.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet a third group of researchers is approaching the history of Mars from another direction. They ask questions like, How do you build a Mars that starts out warm and wet? What kinds of global climate were once possible on Mars?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://people.seas.harvard.edu/~rwordsworth/\">Robin Wordsworth\u003c/a> is one of those people. His research team at Harvard has a state-of-the-art computer model that can reproduce any given planet and its atmosphere in three dimensions. It’s aimed at \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2014/06/26/studying-exoplanets-what-a-thousand-points-of-light-might-reveal-about-earth/\">rocky exoplanets in general\u003c/a>, not just Mars. He trained the model on Mars with the help of colleagues Laura Kerber of Caltech, Raymond Pierrehumbert of the University of Chicago, François Forget of the Laplace Institute in Paris and James Head of Brown University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_58810\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 399px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/Alluvial-this-one.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-58810\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/Alluvial-this-one-1440x900.jpg\" alt=\"The sinuous ridges on the Orson Welles bajada mark the paths water took as it flowed into this crater. The sinuosity of the ridges tells us something about the speed of the water flow. Fast-moving flows tend to be straighter than slow-moving. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona)\" width=\"399\" height=\"249\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/Alluvial-this-one-1440x900.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/Alluvial-this-one-400x250.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/Alluvial-this-one-800x500.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/Alluvial-this-one-1180x738.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/Alluvial-this-one-960x600.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 399px) 100vw, 399px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This sinuous ridges on the Orson Welles bajada marks a path that water took as it flowed into this crater. The sinuosity of the ridges tells us something about the speed of the water flow. Fast-moving flows tend to be straighter than slow-moving. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2015JE004787/full\">Wordsworth’s study\u003c/a>, accepted for publication in the \u003ca href=\"http://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/agu/jgr/journal/10.1002/%28ISSN%292169-9100/\">Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets\u003c/a>, uses his global atmospheric model to recreate the Martian climate 3 or 4 billion years ago. We know several things about that time: the sun was about three-fourths as bright as it is today, the Martian poles were tilted much more strongly, the planet’s greenhouse atmosphere was much thicker than today and most of its surface features were the same as they are today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wordsworth ran two different versions of ancient Mars by manipulating the atmosphere. One had a relatively thin atmosphere, a frozen ocean and was cold, averaging -55 degrees Fahrenheit. The other had an extra-thick atmosphere, was heated by an extra-hot sun and was warm enough to support liquid water and rainfall, averaging 50 degrees Fahrenheit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The model proceeded to calculate how the winds would blow, how clouds would form, where rain and snow would fall and how the streams would flow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_58352\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 470px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/wet-and-dry-marses.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-58352\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/wet-and-dry-marses-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"Warm Mars and Cold Mars\" width=\"470\" height=\"264\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/wet-and-dry-marses-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/wet-and-dry-marses-400x225.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/wet-and-dry-marses-1440x810.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/wet-and-dry-marses-1180x664.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/wet-and-dry-marses-960x540.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/wet-and-dry-marses.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 470px) 100vw, 470px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Warm, wet Mars (left) and cold, dry Mars (right) have very different appearances and produce very different effects on the landscape. Cold Mars is a much better match to the erosional patterns of water that we see on the planet today. (Robin Wordsworth)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the warm scenario, the model predicted high precipitation in certain regions like Arabia Terra and the Hellas basin, but water-carved landforms are scarce in those places. Likewise it predicted a “rain shadow” downwind of the great Tharsis bulge, but features made by water are abundant there instead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the cold scenario, the steep axial tilt of Mars (nearly twice its present value, at 41.8 degrees) meant that snow and ice accumulated not around the poles but around the equator, especially in the highlands. This concentrated water-carved landforms in that region too, which is where they’re found today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In general, Wordsworth found it hard to make a warm Mars work at all. It required unrealistic conditions, and the results didn’t match the landscape. It was easier to have a cold Mars that could be warmed up every once in a while. Orbital changes, volcanism, and cosmic impacts could all do the job and send water coursing over the Martian surface, leaving the telltale signs that remain today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This is a pioneering study that relies on many simplifying assumptions. But it strongly suggests that Mars in its youth was white, not blue, before it turned red. Still unknown is whether Mars was ever green.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "A pioneering study of Mars' early atmosphere suggests the planet was cold and dry, not warm and wet.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Mars is full of evidence that running water once crisscrossed its surface. Many scientists argue that in its early days, the red planet was nearly blue—a relatively warm place with lakes and even an ocean around its north pole. But a sophisticated climate model suggests instead that Mars started out as a cold, icy planet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We’ve always wondered whether Mars has supported life. Just a century ago, Mars was widely thought to be inhabited by intelligent beings who had built a gigantic network of canals to cope with its desert climate. (The canals are now explained as optical illusions affecting telescopic observers.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, even though the planet appears completely sterile, it’s still a driving question whether Mars has ever had the conditions for life to begin, or at least to survive.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">The quest for life on Mars needs to answer two questions: When was Mars wet? And for how long?\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Mars today is bone-dry and colder than Antarctica. Although it must have formed originally with lots of water and air, its weak gravity couldn’t keep water vapor and other gases from escaping to space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But we’re sure that during its first billion years or so, before the atmosphere escaped, Mars had rain and snow. Scientists think there was probably water enough for a large ocean in the lowlands around its north pole.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The evidence is compelling. Orbiting spacecraft have mapped landforms that can only be riverbeds, water-carved canyons and coastlines from a former ocean basin. Robot landers have photographed features in rocks, like \u003ca href=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/2013/01/17/placing-a-bet-on-the-surface-of-mars/\">crossbeds in sandstone\u003c/a>, that only flowing water can produce. And they’ve found chemical evidence of minerals, like clays and \u003ca href=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/2012/01/05/a-most-earthly-mineral-on-mars/\">gypsum\u003c/a>, that require water to form.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The presence of water proves Mars once had what scientists call habitable conditions. But it’s not enough just to establish that water once existed. The evidence from Earth suggests it takes many millions of years, and a specific range of physical and chemical conditions, for life to \u003ci>arise\u003c/i>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_58718\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 504px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/Mars.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-58718\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/Mars-1440x900.jpg\" alt=\"This image shows layered sedimentary rocks on the floor of an impact crater north of Eberswalde Crater. There may have been a lake in this crater billions of years ago. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona)\" width=\"504\" height=\"315\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/Mars-1440x900.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/Mars-400x250.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/Mars-800x500.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/Mars-1180x738.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/Mars-960x600.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 504px) 100vw, 504px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This image shows layered sedimentary rocks on the floor of an impact crater north of Eberswalde Crater. There may have been a lake in this crater billions of years ago. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The quest for life on Mars needs to answer two questions: When was Mars wet? And for how long?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The evidence allows some scientists to argue that Mars was warm and wet very early, between 4 and 3 billion years ago. (All the planets are about 4.6 billion years old.) Others hold that conditions must have been dry and frozen most of the time, with brief periods of warmth and running water after geologic events like major volcanic episodes or large asteroid impacts. The prospects for life on Mars depend strongly on these details.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet a third group of researchers is approaching the history of Mars from another direction. They ask questions like, How do you build a Mars that starts out warm and wet? What kinds of global climate were once possible on Mars?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://people.seas.harvard.edu/~rwordsworth/\">Robin Wordsworth\u003c/a> is one of those people. His research team at Harvard has a state-of-the-art computer model that can reproduce any given planet and its atmosphere in three dimensions. It’s aimed at \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2014/06/26/studying-exoplanets-what-a-thousand-points-of-light-might-reveal-about-earth/\">rocky exoplanets in general\u003c/a>, not just Mars. He trained the model on Mars with the help of colleagues Laura Kerber of Caltech, Raymond Pierrehumbert of the University of Chicago, François Forget of the Laplace Institute in Paris and James Head of Brown University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_58810\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 399px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/Alluvial-this-one.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-58810\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/Alluvial-this-one-1440x900.jpg\" alt=\"The sinuous ridges on the Orson Welles bajada mark the paths water took as it flowed into this crater. The sinuosity of the ridges tells us something about the speed of the water flow. Fast-moving flows tend to be straighter than slow-moving. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona)\" width=\"399\" height=\"249\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/Alluvial-this-one-1440x900.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/Alluvial-this-one-400x250.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/Alluvial-this-one-800x500.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/Alluvial-this-one-1180x738.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/Alluvial-this-one-960x600.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 399px) 100vw, 399px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This sinuous ridges on the Orson Welles bajada marks a path that water took as it flowed into this crater. The sinuosity of the ridges tells us something about the speed of the water flow. Fast-moving flows tend to be straighter than slow-moving. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2015JE004787/full\">Wordsworth’s study\u003c/a>, accepted for publication in the \u003ca href=\"http://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/agu/jgr/journal/10.1002/%28ISSN%292169-9100/\">Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets\u003c/a>, uses his global atmospheric model to recreate the Martian climate 3 or 4 billion years ago. We know several things about that time: the sun was about three-fourths as bright as it is today, the Martian poles were tilted much more strongly, the planet’s greenhouse atmosphere was much thicker than today and most of its surface features were the same as they are today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wordsworth ran two different versions of ancient Mars by manipulating the atmosphere. One had a relatively thin atmosphere, a frozen ocean and was cold, averaging -55 degrees Fahrenheit. The other had an extra-thick atmosphere, was heated by an extra-hot sun and was warm enough to support liquid water and rainfall, averaging 50 degrees Fahrenheit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The model proceeded to calculate how the winds would blow, how clouds would form, where rain and snow would fall and how the streams would flow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_58352\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 470px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/wet-and-dry-marses.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-58352\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/wet-and-dry-marses-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"Warm Mars and Cold Mars\" width=\"470\" height=\"264\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/wet-and-dry-marses-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/wet-and-dry-marses-400x225.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/wet-and-dry-marses-1440x810.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/wet-and-dry-marses-1180x664.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/wet-and-dry-marses-960x540.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/wet-and-dry-marses.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 470px) 100vw, 470px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Warm, wet Mars (left) and cold, dry Mars (right) have very different appearances and produce very different effects on the landscape. Cold Mars is a much better match to the erosional patterns of water that we see on the planet today. (Robin Wordsworth)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In the warm scenario, the model predicted high precipitation in certain regions like Arabia Terra and the Hellas basin, but water-carved landforms are scarce in those places. Likewise it predicted a “rain shadow” downwind of the great Tharsis bulge, but features made by water are abundant there instead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the cold scenario, the steep axial tilt of Mars (nearly twice its present value, at 41.8 degrees) meant that snow and ice accumulated not around the poles but around the equator, especially in the highlands. This concentrated water-carved landforms in that region too, which is where they’re found today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In general, Wordsworth found it hard to make a warm Mars work at all. It required unrealistic conditions, and the results didn’t match the landscape. It was easier to have a cold Mars that could be warmed up every once in a while. Orbital changes, volcanism, and cosmic impacts could all do the job and send water coursing over the Martian surface, leaving the telltale signs that remain today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Court Battles Loom Over California's Senior Water Rights",
"headTitle": "Court Battles Loom Over California’s Senior Water Rights | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Now that California officials have ordered water cutbacks for some of the oldest and most protected water rights holders in the state, we’re about to see if those orders will stick.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a historic move, more than 100 “senior” water rights holders have been notified that they must stop pumping water from streams and rivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">“This is our water.”\u003ccite> Steve Knell, Oakdale Irrigation Dist.\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>The orders are expected to launch a flurry of lawsuits, with water right holders challenging the state’s fundamental authority to cut off senior rights. Court rulings could dramatically alter how water rights are handled in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is our water,” says Steve Knell, general manager of Oakdale Irrigation District, an agricultural district that had its water rights curtailed. “We believe firmly in that fact and we are very vested in protecting that right.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Water Pecking Order\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water is doled out in California based on \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2015/05/11/how-californias-water-rights-make-it-tough-to-manage-drought/\">how long ago it was claimed\u003c/a>, with the earliest rights going back to the Gold Rush. In the pecking order, newer “junior” water rights are the first to be cut back when water supplies get low, so senior rights holders can continue to get water deliveries. Almost 9,000 junior water rights holders have already been ordered to stop using water this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But with a \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2015/03/31/record-low-sierra-snowpack-will-drive-home-drought-impacts/\">record-low snowpack\u003c/a> and worsening drought conditions, the State Water Resources Control Board is now cutting back older rights, going back to 1903. “We’re now at a point that the demand in our key river systems is outstripping supply,” says Caren Trgovcich, State Water Board Chief Deputy Director.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The order affects \u003ca href=\"http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/waterrights/water_issues/programs/drought/docs/jun12pre14maillist.pdf\">276 rights\u003c/a> held by individuals and several agricultural water districts, amounting to 1.2 million acre-feet of water. Violators could face fines of $1,000 a day and $2,500 for each unauthorized acre-foot of water they draw.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are some that have no alternative supplies and will have to stop irrigating crops,” says Tom Howard, executive director of the State Water Resources Control Board. “There are others that have stored water or have wells that they can fall back on. It’s going to be a different story for each one and a struggle for all of them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Major Legal Question\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Senior water rights have largely been considered untouchable in California. They’ve only been cut off once before, during the 1976-77 drought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you have a very senior right, you could very reasonably conclude that you don’t have to worry too much about droughts because you’re so senior that you’re not going to get cut off,” says water rights attorney David Aladjem. “And this is the exception that proves the rule.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California created the water board to oversee water rights in 1913 and began issuing permits for water claims. There’s even a \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2015/05/11/how-californias-water-rights-make-it-tough-to-manage-drought/\">large bank safe\u003c/a> in Sacramento that holds all the permits. Earlier claims, going back to the Gold Rush, are considered “pre-1914 rights” and don’t have permits from the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those rights holders plan to challenge the state’s authority to regulate them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=”rdEZZ7IRNBZqzB5PozbyCipGIYMtuTUV”]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Water right holders were here before the state exerted any authority over water,” says Oakdale Irrigation District’s Knell. “Most of our water rights go back to the mid-1800s. So the state having authority over something that we developed long before the state got into this business is the legal question we will be asking a judge.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Five water districts, including Oakdale, Merced and Modesto Irrigation Districts are filing for a stay to halt the curtailment orders. Others within the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta are also expected to bring legal action.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It would be a very important case in water law,” says Aladjem. “The question here is: what is the authority of the water board to enforce that priority system as opposed to the authority of the courts to enforce it? We don’t have a definitive decision from the courts as to the authority.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a hearing in May, the state water board \u003ca href=\"http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/waterrights/water_issues/programs/drought/workshops.shtml\">heard testimony from several water attorneys\u003c/a> who warned lawsuits would follow in quick order.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not equitable, it’s not legal and it will be challenged,” said attorney Jeanne Zolezzi, representing several water districts on the San Joaquin River. Cutting off some senior water rights to protect even older water rights wouldn’t be valid, she said, because senior water rights are only claims and haven’t been proven out by permits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a bulldozer when a scalpel is needed,” says Knell. “There are so many filings for water rights that have no validity. And the state hasn’t done their homework and gone through all these rights and validated them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cities, Not Just Farms\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water officials say cities and communities aren’t exempt from water rights cutbacks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It does mean we would lose the entire supply,” says Ed Pattison, general manager of Mountain House Community Services District, which serves a community of about 15,000 people near Tracy.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">“It’s not equitable, it’s not legal and it will be challenged.”\u003ccite> Jeanne Zolezzi, attorney \u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>The community gets water from Byron Bethany Irrigation District, which had its senior rights curtailed. “The visionary people that brought Mountain House into being felt that the pre-1914 was a reliable water supply,” says Pattison. “And obviously it’s looking like it’s not as reliable as once planned and expected.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For now, we’re looking for emergency water supplies to fill the gap,” he says. “It was not budgeted, so this is going to be impacting the general fund significantly. I can’t predict if it will be successful, and if it’s not, it’ll be catastrophic.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Future Cutbacks\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the state facing a long, dry summer, officials warned that these may not be the last cutbacks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Curtailment notices for other watersheds and for more senior rights holders in these watersheds may be imminent,” warned the water board’s Trgovcich.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That could even affect San Francisco. The city’s Public Utilities Commission has rights dating back to 1901, after the city’s mayor famously claimed water in the Tuolumne River by nailing a sheet of paper to a tree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city could be facing the same fate as other senior rights holders. “As we continue this process, we anticipate that they will be,” says the water board’s Howard.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Now that California officials have ordered water cutbacks for some of the oldest and most protected water rights holders in the state, we’re about to see if those orders will stick.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a historic move, more than 100 “senior” water rights holders have been notified that they must stop pumping water from streams and rivers.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">“This is our water.”\u003ccite> Steve Knell, Oakdale Irrigation Dist.\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>The orders are expected to launch a flurry of lawsuits, with water right holders challenging the state’s fundamental authority to cut off senior rights. Court rulings could dramatically alter how water rights are handled in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is our water,” says Steve Knell, general manager of Oakdale Irrigation District, an agricultural district that had its water rights curtailed. “We believe firmly in that fact and we are very vested in protecting that right.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Water Pecking Order\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water is doled out in California based on \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2015/05/11/how-californias-water-rights-make-it-tough-to-manage-drought/\">how long ago it was claimed\u003c/a>, with the earliest rights going back to the Gold Rush. In the pecking order, newer “junior” water rights are the first to be cut back when water supplies get low, so senior rights holders can continue to get water deliveries. Almost 9,000 junior water rights holders have already been ordered to stop using water this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But with a \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2015/03/31/record-low-sierra-snowpack-will-drive-home-drought-impacts/\">record-low snowpack\u003c/a> and worsening drought conditions, the State Water Resources Control Board is now cutting back older rights, going back to 1903. “We’re now at a point that the demand in our key river systems is outstripping supply,” says Caren Trgovcich, State Water Board Chief Deputy Director.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The order affects \u003ca href=\"http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/waterrights/water_issues/programs/drought/docs/jun12pre14maillist.pdf\">276 rights\u003c/a> held by individuals and several agricultural water districts, amounting to 1.2 million acre-feet of water. Violators could face fines of $1,000 a day and $2,500 for each unauthorized acre-foot of water they draw.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are some that have no alternative supplies and will have to stop irrigating crops,” says Tom Howard, executive director of the State Water Resources Control Board. “There are others that have stored water or have wells that they can fall back on. It’s going to be a different story for each one and a struggle for all of them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Major Legal Question\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Senior water rights have largely been considered untouchable in California. They’ve only been cut off once before, during the 1976-77 drought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you have a very senior right, you could very reasonably conclude that you don’t have to worry too much about droughts because you’re so senior that you’re not going to get cut off,” says water rights attorney David Aladjem. “And this is the exception that proves the rule.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California created the water board to oversee water rights in 1913 and began issuing permits for water claims. There’s even a \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2015/05/11/how-californias-water-rights-make-it-tough-to-manage-drought/\">large bank safe\u003c/a> in Sacramento that holds all the permits. Earlier claims, going back to the Gold Rush, are considered “pre-1914 rights” and don’t have permits from the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those rights holders plan to challenge the state’s authority to regulate them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Water right holders were here before the state exerted any authority over water,” says Oakdale Irrigation District’s Knell. “Most of our water rights go back to the mid-1800s. So the state having authority over something that we developed long before the state got into this business is the legal question we will be asking a judge.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Five water districts, including Oakdale, Merced and Modesto Irrigation Districts are filing for a stay to halt the curtailment orders. Others within the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta are also expected to bring legal action.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It would be a very important case in water law,” says Aladjem. “The question here is: what is the authority of the water board to enforce that priority system as opposed to the authority of the courts to enforce it? We don’t have a definitive decision from the courts as to the authority.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a hearing in May, the state water board \u003ca href=\"http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/waterrights/water_issues/programs/drought/workshops.shtml\">heard testimony from several water attorneys\u003c/a> who warned lawsuits would follow in quick order.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not equitable, it’s not legal and it will be challenged,” said attorney Jeanne Zolezzi, representing several water districts on the San Joaquin River. Cutting off some senior water rights to protect even older water rights wouldn’t be valid, she said, because senior water rights are only claims and haven’t been proven out by permits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a bulldozer when a scalpel is needed,” says Knell. “There are so many filings for water rights that have no validity. And the state hasn’t done their homework and gone through all these rights and validated them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cities, Not Just Farms\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Water officials say cities and communities aren’t exempt from water rights cutbacks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It does mean we would lose the entire supply,” says Ed Pattison, general manager of Mountain House Community Services District, which serves a community of about 15,000 people near Tracy.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignleft\">“It’s not equitable, it’s not legal and it will be challenged.”\u003ccite> Jeanne Zolezzi, attorney \u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>The community gets water from Byron Bethany Irrigation District, which had its senior rights curtailed. “The visionary people that brought Mountain House into being felt that the pre-1914 was a reliable water supply,” says Pattison. “And obviously it’s looking like it’s not as reliable as once planned and expected.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For now, we’re looking for emergency water supplies to fill the gap,” he says. “It was not budgeted, so this is going to be impacting the general fund significantly. I can’t predict if it will be successful, and if it’s not, it’ll be catastrophic.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Future Cutbacks\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the state facing a long, dry summer, officials warned that these may not be the last cutbacks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Curtailment notices for other watersheds and for more senior rights holders in these watersheds may be imminent,” warned the water board’s Trgovcich.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That could even affect San Francisco. The city’s Public Utilities Commission has rights dating back to 1901, after the city’s mayor famously claimed water in the Tuolumne River by nailing a sheet of paper to a tree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city could be facing the same fate as other senior rights holders. “As we continue this process, we anticipate that they will be,” says the water board’s Howard.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Burn After Reading: Big El Niño Building, Could Be Major Rainmaker This Fall",
"headTitle": "Burn After Reading: Big El Niño Building, Could Be Major Rainmaker This Fall | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Though it’s still early in the game, forecasters say all the elements are in place for a whopper El Niño that could bring substantial rain and snow to California this fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Federal forecasters say there is now a 90 percent chance that the warm-water ocean conditions will prevail into the fall, and an 85 percent chance that they’ll endure throughout the coming winter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s quite well established now in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean and it appears to be strengthening,” says Stanford climate scientist Daniel Swain, author of the popular \u003ca href=\"http://www.weatherwest.com/\">California Weather Blog\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now forget that you read this.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of California’s top water regulators recently complained that El Niño hype last spring threw a monkey wrench into efforts to promote water conservation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This killed us at the beginning of 2014,” Felicia Marcus told reporters in a May conference call. Marcus heads the State Water Resources Control Board, which has been charged with implementing Governor Jerry Brown’s statewide water restrictions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everybody wrote the story that El Niño might save us, so people didn’t start conserving when they should have.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As it happened, last year’s El Niño, eventually dubbed “El Wimpo” by weather wags, \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2014/08/07/el-nino-fizzle-no-relief-likely-for-california-drought/\">remained too weak\u003c/a> to overcome the prevailing drought conditions; the hoped-for rains never arrived.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can hope for it but you certainly can’t plan for it,” said Marcus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_44389\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 628px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/ElNino_150603.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-44389\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/ElNino_150603.jpg\" alt=\"NOAA graphic shows the warm plume of water running east-west near the equator, the classic signature of El Nino.\" width=\"628\" height=\"401\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/ElNino_150603.jpg 628w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/ElNino_150603-400x255.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 628px) 100vw, 628px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">NOAA graphic shows the warm plume of water running east-west near the equator, the classic signature of El Nino. \u003ccite>(NOAA Climate Prediction Center)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But scientists say this year looks more like the real deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everything is certainly in place for this event to continue,” says Mike Halpert, deputy director of NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Right now the indications are that it will continue to strengthen and that this will be in place, in fact, next winter,” agrees Swain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that question of strength is crucial. As we’ve reported here before, \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2014/09/01/drought-myth-busting-why-el-nino-wont-save-california/\">only the stronger El Niños\u003c/a> translate to wet winters in California. Strength is measured according to how much ocean temperatures deviate from the norm. The difference between one degree and two degrees Celsius above average can be enormous in the “teleconnections,” the term scientists use to describe distant weather effects from El Niño. Right now this one appears to be building strength.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It still doesn’t mean that it’s a slam dunk strong El Niño forecast,” says Swain, “but it does mean that this year we have higher confidence than we did last year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of that confidence is driven by the atmospheric effects of the current El Niño, a connection that never quite took hold last year. What’s happening in the ocean now is encouraging — but it has to keep happening for several months to come.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Halpert says there’s a slightly better-than-even chance that we’ll see a strong event take shape. But while it’s tricky enough to forecast the staying power of an El Niño, handicapping its strength several months hence is even harder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think it takes more than just having the pieces,” he cautions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think it almost takes some level of — I hate to use the word luck — but that somehow everything just falls together and that’s just not something that we’re able to forecast.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "The warm ocean conditions often associated with rain in California are building -- and scientists say there's a 90 percent chance that they'll hang in there until fall or longer. Now forget that you read this.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Though it’s still early in the game, forecasters say all the elements are in place for a whopper El Niño that could bring substantial rain and snow to California this fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Federal forecasters say there is now a 90 percent chance that the warm-water ocean conditions will prevail into the fall, and an 85 percent chance that they’ll endure throughout the coming winter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s quite well established now in the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean and it appears to be strengthening,” says Stanford climate scientist Daniel Swain, author of the popular \u003ca href=\"http://www.weatherwest.com/\">California Weather Blog\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now forget that you read this.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of California’s top water regulators recently complained that El Niño hype last spring threw a monkey wrench into efforts to promote water conservation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This killed us at the beginning of 2014,” Felicia Marcus told reporters in a May conference call. Marcus heads the State Water Resources Control Board, which has been charged with implementing Governor Jerry Brown’s statewide water restrictions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everybody wrote the story that El Niño might save us, so people didn’t start conserving when they should have.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As it happened, last year’s El Niño, eventually dubbed “El Wimpo” by weather wags, \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2014/08/07/el-nino-fizzle-no-relief-likely-for-california-drought/\">remained too weak\u003c/a> to overcome the prevailing drought conditions; the hoped-for rains never arrived.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can hope for it but you certainly can’t plan for it,” said Marcus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_44389\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 628px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/ElNino_150603.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-44389\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/ElNino_150603.jpg\" alt=\"NOAA graphic shows the warm plume of water running east-west near the equator, the classic signature of El Nino.\" width=\"628\" height=\"401\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/ElNino_150603.jpg 628w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/ElNino_150603-400x255.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 628px) 100vw, 628px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">NOAA graphic shows the warm plume of water running east-west near the equator, the classic signature of El Nino. \u003ccite>(NOAA Climate Prediction Center)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But scientists say this year looks more like the real deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everything is certainly in place for this event to continue,” says Mike Halpert, deputy director of NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Right now the indications are that it will continue to strengthen and that this will be in place, in fact, next winter,” agrees Swain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that question of strength is crucial. As we’ve reported here before, \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2014/09/01/drought-myth-busting-why-el-nino-wont-save-california/\">only the stronger El Niños\u003c/a> translate to wet winters in California. Strength is measured according to how much ocean temperatures deviate from the norm. The difference between one degree and two degrees Celsius above average can be enormous in the “teleconnections,” the term scientists use to describe distant weather effects from El Niño. Right now this one appears to be building strength.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It still doesn’t mean that it’s a slam dunk strong El Niño forecast,” says Swain, “but it does mean that this year we have higher confidence than we did last year.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of that confidence is driven by the atmospheric effects of the current El Niño, a connection that never quite took hold last year. What’s happening in the ocean now is encouraging — but it has to keep happening for several months to come.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Halpert says there’s a slightly better-than-even chance that we’ll see a strong event take shape. But while it’s tricky enough to forecast the staying power of an El Niño, handicapping its strength several months hence is even harder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think it takes more than just having the pieces,” he cautions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think it almost takes some level of — I hate to use the word luck — but that somehow everything just falls together and that’s just not something that we’re able to forecast.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "California's Vanishing Clouds Could Intensify Drought",
"headTitle": "California’s Vanishing Clouds Could Intensify Drought | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Fog season is with us once again. And whether it’s the ground-level “pea soup” of legend or the looming overcast known as the \u003ca href=\"http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jetstream/ocean/marine.htm\">marine layer\u003c/a>, there’s a reason it’s called \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/2015/06/08/making-sense-of-san-franciscos-bone-chilling-summertime-fog/\">California’s natural air-conditioning\u003c/a>: fog and clouds are vital cogs in keeping the coastal thermostat turned down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that advantage could be disappearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED Science Editor Craig Miller talks with climate scientist \u003ca href=\"http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/user/williams\">Park Williams\u003c/a> about his recently \u003ca href=\"http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2015GL063266/abstract\">published work\u003c/a> on California’s vanishing clouds. Williams is an assistant research professor at Columbia University’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/\">Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory\u003c/a> in New York, but the gray mantle of the California’s summer coastline keeps drawing him back here — and it’s not just the romance of it. It turns out that fog — any kind of cloud, actually — is a great regulator not just of heat, but of drought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>http://www.kqed.org/.stream/anon/radio/science/2015/06/20150608ScienceFog.mp3\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Park Williams:\u003c/strong> Yeah, fog regulates drought. It does it in a couple of ways. In ecosystems, fog drops water directly on plants. And when the water collects on the plants, it then drops into the soil and is available for the plants to use. Fog, and clouds that are higher than fog, also shade the sun, and that allows plants more time to use the water they’ve collected from the fog. In cities, fog and clouds that are higher than fog — overcast clouds — are important as well, because they regulate surface temps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Craig Miller:\u003c/strong> And it seems like cities are where the problem is.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>PW:\u003c/strong> We looked at Southern California and found that in large cities — L.A. and San Diego — the heights of low clouds during summertime have been increasing; they’ve been rising away from the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CM:\u003c/strong> Why would that be?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>PW:\u003c/strong> Cities have been warming, and essentially you need to go higher into the atmosphere before you finally get to where it’s cool enough to have water droplets condense and clouds can form.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CM:\u003c/strong> This is sounding like the “urban heat island” effect at work here. Is there a smoking gun for that?\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_32640\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/1024px-San_francisco_in_fog_with_rays.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-32640\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/1024px-San_francisco_in_fog_with_rays-800x859.jpg\" alt=\"Fog settles over San Francisco Bay, with the Golden Gate Bridge, Coit Tower and Bay Bridge visible in the distance. (Brocken Inaglory/Wikimedia Commons)\" width=\"800\" height=\"859\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/1024px-San_francisco_in_fog_with_rays-800x859.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/1024px-San_francisco_in_fog_with_rays-400x430.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/1024px-San_francisco_in_fog_with_rays-960x1031.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/1024px-San_francisco_in_fog_with_rays.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fog settles over San Francisco Bay, with the Golden Gate Bridge, Coit Tower and Bay Bridge visible in the distance. (Brocken Inaglory/Wikimedia Commons) \u003ccite>(Brocken Inaglory/Wikimedia Commons)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>PW:\u003c/strong> The minimum temperature at night has been rising rapidly. During the daytime we’ve seen slow warming, but not nearly at the pace that nighttime warming is. That’s the fingerprint of the urban heat island that we expect. The urban heat island effect really is a nighttime phenomenon because cement takes a long time to get rid of its heat, and that causes nighttime temperatures to rise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CM:\u003c/strong> And where urbanization reaches inland, like, say, the Inland Empire region east of L.A., this phenomenon seems to follow. For example, looking at readings from airports, you found there’s 87 percent less fog in Ontario since 1950, and that overall cloud cover — technically the “frequency” of clouds — has been reduced by about half. That’s stunning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>PW:\u003c/strong> That means Ontario is getting a lot more sunlight in the morning hours, which is then feeding back to heat up Ontario and make clouds less likely in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CM:\u003c/strong> You’re describing a kind of vicious cycle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>PW:\u003c/strong> Clouds will become thinner over Los Angeles. That allows more sunlight to be absorbed by the ground, which causes more surface heat, which causes clouds to have to form higher up, which causes clouds to be thinner, which perpetuates this process of more sunlight, higher clouds — and eventually more sunlight, no clouds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CM:\u003c/strong> But you don’t foresee fog and overcast vanishing everywhere along the coast, only in the most urbanized areas?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>PW:\u003c/strong> It depends on where you are. Since these fog and low marine clouds during the summer are regulators of drought, and since global warming is projected to enhance drought in much of California, these clouds could be very nice moderators of the global warming process and increased drought in coastal California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CM:\u003c/strong> But in the cities …\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>PW:\u003c/strong> Then we see basically the moderating effect of these clouds probably getting canceled out, and rapid increases of drought in the mountain ecosystems surrounding the cities of Southern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19c09UgIB-4&feature=youtu.be\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CM:\u003c/strong> It sounds like when you get north into the coast redwoods, which are so dependent on the fog, the prognosis isn’t so bad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>PW:\u003c/strong> I think it’s not so bad. We’ll have to wait and see. Certainly these clouds are complicated and there are aspects to them we still don’t understand so well. We’ve had a tough time getting computers to actually model the behavior of these clouds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CM:\u003c/strong> It makes you wonder if we might come to miss the June Gloom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>PW:\u003c/strong> I think the ways it’ll be missed are — energy bills rise because everything’s warmer, heat waves will be warmer and that’ll have some public health implications. But there’ll be benefits, too. People like going to beach when it’s sunny and not cloudy, so June Gloom gets in the way of family vacations. It’ll be nice to have better beach weather.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CM:\u003c/strong> I’d call that a silver lining except I think you need a cloud for that.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Fog season is with us once again. And whether it’s the ground-level “pea soup” of legend or the looming overcast known as the \u003ca href=\"http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jetstream/ocean/marine.htm\">marine layer\u003c/a>, there’s a reason it’s called \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/lowdown/2015/06/08/making-sense-of-san-franciscos-bone-chilling-summertime-fog/\">California’s natural air-conditioning\u003c/a>: fog and clouds are vital cogs in keeping the coastal thermostat turned down.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But that advantage could be disappearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED Science Editor Craig Miller talks with climate scientist \u003ca href=\"http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/user/williams\">Park Williams\u003c/a> about his recently \u003ca href=\"http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2015GL063266/abstract\">published work\u003c/a> on California’s vanishing clouds. Williams is an assistant research professor at Columbia University’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/\">Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory\u003c/a> in New York, but the gray mantle of the California’s summer coastline keeps drawing him back here — and it’s not just the romance of it. It turns out that fog — any kind of cloud, actually — is a great regulator not just of heat, but of drought.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Park Williams:\u003c/strong> Yeah, fog regulates drought. It does it in a couple of ways. In ecosystems, fog drops water directly on plants. And when the water collects on the plants, it then drops into the soil and is available for the plants to use. Fog, and clouds that are higher than fog, also shade the sun, and that allows plants more time to use the water they’ve collected from the fog. In cities, fog and clouds that are higher than fog — overcast clouds — are important as well, because they regulate surface temps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Craig Miller:\u003c/strong> And it seems like cities are where the problem is.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>PW:\u003c/strong> We looked at Southern California and found that in large cities — L.A. and San Diego — the heights of low clouds during summertime have been increasing; they’ve been rising away from the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CM:\u003c/strong> Why would that be?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>PW:\u003c/strong> Cities have been warming, and essentially you need to go higher into the atmosphere before you finally get to where it’s cool enough to have water droplets condense and clouds can form.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CM:\u003c/strong> This is sounding like the “urban heat island” effect at work here. Is there a smoking gun for that?\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_32640\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/1024px-San_francisco_in_fog_with_rays.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-32640\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/1024px-San_francisco_in_fog_with_rays-800x859.jpg\" alt=\"Fog settles over San Francisco Bay, with the Golden Gate Bridge, Coit Tower and Bay Bridge visible in the distance. (Brocken Inaglory/Wikimedia Commons)\" width=\"800\" height=\"859\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/1024px-San_francisco_in_fog_with_rays-800x859.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/1024px-San_francisco_in_fog_with_rays-400x430.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/1024px-San_francisco_in_fog_with_rays-960x1031.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/06/1024px-San_francisco_in_fog_with_rays.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fog settles over San Francisco Bay, with the Golden Gate Bridge, Coit Tower and Bay Bridge visible in the distance. (Brocken Inaglory/Wikimedia Commons) \u003ccite>(Brocken Inaglory/Wikimedia Commons)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>PW:\u003c/strong> The minimum temperature at night has been rising rapidly. During the daytime we’ve seen slow warming, but not nearly at the pace that nighttime warming is. That’s the fingerprint of the urban heat island that we expect. The urban heat island effect really is a nighttime phenomenon because cement takes a long time to get rid of its heat, and that causes nighttime temperatures to rise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CM:\u003c/strong> And where urbanization reaches inland, like, say, the Inland Empire region east of L.A., this phenomenon seems to follow. For example, looking at readings from airports, you found there’s 87 percent less fog in Ontario since 1950, and that overall cloud cover — technically the “frequency” of clouds — has been reduced by about half. That’s stunning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>PW:\u003c/strong> That means Ontario is getting a lot more sunlight in the morning hours, which is then feeding back to heat up Ontario and make clouds less likely in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CM:\u003c/strong> You’re describing a kind of vicious cycle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>PW:\u003c/strong> Clouds will become thinner over Los Angeles. That allows more sunlight to be absorbed by the ground, which causes more surface heat, which causes clouds to have to form higher up, which causes clouds to be thinner, which perpetuates this process of more sunlight, higher clouds — and eventually more sunlight, no clouds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CM:\u003c/strong> But you don’t foresee fog and overcast vanishing everywhere along the coast, only in the most urbanized areas?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>PW:\u003c/strong> It depends on where you are. Since these fog and low marine clouds during the summer are regulators of drought, and since global warming is projected to enhance drought in much of California, these clouds could be very nice moderators of the global warming process and increased drought in coastal California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CM:\u003c/strong> But in the cities …\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>PW:\u003c/strong> Then we see basically the moderating effect of these clouds probably getting canceled out, and rapid increases of drought in the mountain ecosystems surrounding the cities of Southern California.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/19c09UgIB-4'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/19c09UgIB-4'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CM:\u003c/strong> It sounds like when you get north into the coast redwoods, which are so dependent on the fog, the prognosis isn’t so bad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>PW:\u003c/strong> I think it’s not so bad. We’ll have to wait and see. Certainly these clouds are complicated and there are aspects to them we still don’t understand so well. We’ve had a tough time getting computers to actually model the behavior of these clouds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CM:\u003c/strong> It makes you wonder if we might come to miss the June Gloom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>PW:\u003c/strong> I think the ways it’ll be missed are — energy bills rise because everything’s warmer, heat waves will be warmer and that’ll have some public health implications. But there’ll be benefits, too. People like going to beach when it’s sunny and not cloudy, so June Gloom gets in the way of family vacations. It’ll be nice to have better beach weather.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CM:\u003c/strong> I’d call that a silver lining except I think you need a cloud for that.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "California Expands Its 'Subnational' Climate Club",
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"content": "\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_30406\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/05/climate.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-30406\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/05/climate.jpg\" alt=\"Moon Rise behind the San Gorgonio Pass Wind Farm, 2009. (Chuck Coker/Flickr)\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Moon rise behind the San Gorgonio Pass wind farm, 2009. Promoting renewable energy sources like wind and solar is part of the climate pact signed by Governor Jerry Brown and about a dozen other subnational governments. (Chuck Coker/Flickr)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>California is adding to its roster of allies in the climate change counteroffensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmental groups are hailing \u003ca href=\"http://gov.ca.gov/news.php?id=18964\">an agreement signed Tuesday\u003c/a> by Governor Jerry Brown and an assortment of states, provinces and other “subnational” governments to ratchet up their own climate strategies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Billed as the “Under 2 MOU,” the memorandum of understanding is a pledge to advance policies aimed at arresting global warming at the U.N.’s critical \u003ca href=\"http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/24/opinions/sutter-questions-two-degrees-climate/\">threshold of 2 degrees\u003c/a> Celsius. That’s the level beyond which some scientists say the most catastrophic effects of climate change would kick in and hence, has been widely adopted as a kind of holy grail of climate policy outcomes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even assuming that all parties deliver on their pledges, actually holding the line at 2 degrees would, of course, require serious, sweeping transnational commitments from major emitters like the U.S., China and India, something that negotiators have yet to achieve.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED’s Tara Siler spoke with Dan Kammen, who heads the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory at UC Berkeley, about the deal and how much difference this kind of subnational agreement can really make in moving the climate needle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/206295637″ params=”color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]\u003cbr>\n \u003cbr>\nOne tenet of the agreement is the establishment of mid-term emissions targets “to support long-term reduction goals.” Brown set out a \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2015/01/05/governor-unveils-ambitious-new-climate-goals/\">series of ambitious climate goals\u003c/a> in his January inaugural message, and more recently set a target to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030. The state had already adopted a 2050 goal to cut warming emissions by 80 percent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joining Brown in signing on to the MOU are representatives of provincial governments in Canada, Brazil, Germany, Mexico, Spain and the United Kingdom, as well as state officials from Oregon, Washington and Vermont. Previously Brown had cobbled together a West Coast climate action collaborative with Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. Provincial officials in France were expected to sign on as well.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_30406\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/05/climate.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-30406\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/05/climate.jpg\" alt=\"Moon Rise behind the San Gorgonio Pass Wind Farm, 2009. (Chuck Coker/Flickr)\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Moon rise behind the San Gorgonio Pass wind farm, 2009. Promoting renewable energy sources like wind and solar is part of the climate pact signed by Governor Jerry Brown and about a dozen other subnational governments. (Chuck Coker/Flickr)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>California is adding to its roster of allies in the climate change counteroffensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Environmental groups are hailing \u003ca href=\"http://gov.ca.gov/news.php?id=18964\">an agreement signed Tuesday\u003c/a> by Governor Jerry Brown and an assortment of states, provinces and other “subnational” governments to ratchet up their own climate strategies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Billed as the “Under 2 MOU,” the memorandum of understanding is a pledge to advance policies aimed at arresting global warming at the U.N.’s critical \u003ca href=\"http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/24/opinions/sutter-questions-two-degrees-climate/\">threshold of 2 degrees\u003c/a> Celsius. That’s the level beyond which some scientists say the most catastrophic effects of climate change would kick in and hence, has been widely adopted as a kind of holy grail of climate policy outcomes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even assuming that all parties deliver on their pledges, actually holding the line at 2 degrees would, of course, require serious, sweeping transnational commitments from major emitters like the U.S., China and India, something that negotiators have yet to achieve.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>KQED’s Tara Siler spoke with Dan Kammen, who heads the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory at UC Berkeley, about the deal and how much difference this kind of subnational agreement can really make in moving the climate needle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
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"soldout": {
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"info": "Tech Nation is a weekly public radio program, hosted by Dr. Moira Gunn. Founded in 1993, it has grown from a simple interview show to a multi-faceted production, featuring conversations with noted technology and science leaders, and a weekly science and technology-related commentary.",
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"info": "The TED Radio Hour is a journey through fascinating ideas, astonishing inventions, fresh approaches to old problems, and new ways to think and create.",
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"tagline": "Local news to keep you rooted",
"info": "Host Devin Katayama walks you through the biggest story of the day with reporters and newsmakers.",
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