The 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann “for the physical modelling of Earth’s climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming”, and to Giorgio Parisi “for the discovery of the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from atomic to planetary scales.”
On this day back in 2005, the world’s first legally-binding climate change agreement came into force. The Kyoto protocol, to which 192 countries are a party, aimed to reduce emissions of six greenhouse gases by 5.2% by 2012, relative to 1990. This graphic gives a brief overview of the agreement and the outcome of its first period.
We know what global temperatures are like now, from direct measurement around the globe. And we know quite a lot about what temperatures were like over the past few hundred years thanks to written records. But what about further back than that? How do we know what temperatures were like a thousand years ago, or even hundreds of thousands of years ago? There is, of course, no written record that far back in history – but there is a chemical record, hidden in the ice of Antartica and Greenland.
Ocean acidification is often referred to as ‘the other carbon dioxide problem’. We’re all quite rightly concerned about the effects that rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels may have on climate, and the potential consequences of climate change are well documented: more frequent instances of extreme weather, and higher global average temperatures to name but two. Ocean acidification gets comparatively less press, and as such is sometimes misunderstood – but its effects could be equally serious.
This week (31 Oct – 6 Nov) is #RealTimeChem Week – if you’re a tweeting chemist or chemistry enthusiast, you’ll probably know what that is already, but if you’re not familiar with it check out the FAQ here! Like last year, I’m creating graphics showcasing the work of the three winners of the #RealTimeChem week competition I ran earlier in October – hopefully explaining cutting edge research in easily understandable terms!
You might recall a month or so ago I started a new project on the site, Chemunicate, with which I aim to work with chemistry researchers and help produce graphics explaining their work in a straightforward manner. This graphic is the result of a collaboration with scientists from the University of Hull, and explains their study in which they examined how ocean acidification could affect the chemical senses of marine organisms.
