G8 countries accept warming limit, working toward emissions cuts

A G8 summit is making some progress on addressing rising global temperatures.

IndieBound app opens independent bookstores

Looking for the next great read or undiscovered gem? IndieBound, a free application for the iPod Touch and iPhone, puts independent bookstores in your pocket. The app includes a comprehensive book search; each book includes a link to purchase direct from the website of an indie bookstore near you. Recommendations, new titles, wish lists, and a bookstore finder are also included.

Kindling - the new flammable wireless reading device

A handy-dandy device, with a description worth reading for the comments alone.

Vas has new paper in Science

Vasilii Petrenko is first author on a paper in the 24 April issue of Science, "14-CH-4 measurements in Greenland ice: Investigating last glacial termination CH-4 sources." (Science, 324(5926): 506-508. doi: 10.1126/science.1168909)

Vas' team mined Pakitsoq, Greenland, ice like a geological seam, obtaining enough ice to read the C-14 signal for atmospheric methane during the Younger Dryas-Preboreal abrupt climate transition. A related paper, "Shifting gear, quickly," on p. 477 of the same volume, explains why this is important: massive methane-driven climate change can occur very quickly--over the course of a few years.

Death of the Megabeasts on tonight

Giff Miller has been working with National Geographic channel on a documentary, Death of the Megafauna, that airs for the first time tonight at 7:00 p.m. and again at 10:00. Giff writes, "The documentary was filmed in part in the amino lab here in Boulder and the production company spent three days filming us in the field in Australia last July."

New zero-emissions station opens in Antarctica

The Belgian research station Princess Elisabeth opened February 15th on the Utsteinen nunatak in the Dronning Maud Land. The historic station was built over the austral summer as part of Belgium's commitment to IPY. It uses renewable energy, water recycling, computer-controlled resourced management, and eco-friendly construction materials to enable zero-emission operation.

USGS climate change documents given to Obama, Congress, feature INSTAAR authors

John Andrews, Lesleigh Anderson, Anne Jennings, Giff Miller, Dan Muhs, and Jim White are among the authors of Synthesis and Assessment Products (SAP) about climate change, USGS publications delivered to Congress and the President.

The U.S. Climate Change Science Program is producing the SAP series to provide current assessments of climate change science to inform public debate, policy, and operational decisions. The reports are also intended to help the CCSP develop future program research priorities.

The CCSP’s guiding vision is to provide the Nation and the global community with the science-based knowledge needed to manage the risks and capture the opportunities associated with climate and related environmental changes. The SAPs are important steps toward achieving that vision and help to translate extensive observational and research data into informational tools that directly address key questions being asked of the research community.