ment: Vulnerability Assessment for Population,. Coastal Wetlands and Rice Production on a. Global Scale, 2nd ed., Delft Hydraulics, Delft,. Netherlands. Lowe ...
Eos, Vol. 88, No. 4 3 , 23 October 2007 Gregory, J. M.,et al. ( 2 0 0 1 ) , Comparison of results from several AOGCMs for global and regional sea-level change 1900-2100,Clim.Dyn., 7 5 , 2 2 5 - 2 4 0 . Hoozemans, F M. J., M. Marchand, and H. A. Penn e k a m p ( 1 9 9 3 ) , A Global Vulnerability Assess
ment: Vulnerability Assessment for Population, Coastal Wetlands and Rice Production on a Global Scale, 2nd ed., Delft Hydraulics, Delft, Netherlands. Lowe,J.A.,and J.M.Gregory ( 2 0 0 5 ) , T h e effects of climate c h a n g e on storm surges around the United Kingdom, Philos. Trans R. Soc. London, 363, 1313-1328. Marbaix, P, and J. Pvan Ypersele ( 2 0 0 4 ) , Impacts des changements climatiques en Belgique,44 pp.,
G r e e n p e a c e Belgium, Brussels. (Available at http:// www.climate.be/impacts) McGranahan,G.,D. Balk,and B.Anderson ( 2 0 0 7 ) , The rising tide: Assessing the risks of climate c h a n g e a n d human settlements in low elevation coastal zones,Environ. Urban., 7 9 ( 1 ) , 1 7 - 3 7 . Nicholls,R.J. ( 2 0 0 4 ) , C o a s t a l flooding a n d wetland loss in the 21st century: Changes under the SRES climate a n d s o c i o - e c o n o m i c scenarios, Global
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N i c h o l l s , R . J . , a n d R.S.J.Tol ( 2 0 0 6 ) , I m p a c t s a n d r e s p o n s e s to sea-level rise: A global analysis of the SRES s c e n a r i o s over the twenty-first century, Philos. Trans. R. Soc. London, Ser.A, 364, 1073-1095.
Conference Marks Fiftieth Anniversary of Global CCX Record
T h e fiftieth a n n i v e r s a r y of the global C 0 record, b e g u n by C h a r l e s David Keeling at the South Pole and in Hawaii during the International G e o p h y s i c a l Y e a r (IGY; 1 9 5 7 - 1 9 5 8 ) , will b e c e l e b r a t e d at a s y m p o sium in Kona, Hawaii, n e a r the Mauna Loa Observatory, on 2 8 - 3 0 N o v e m b e r 2007.
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At the time of Keeling's initial efforts, little w a s k n o w n a b o u t C 0 in t h e a t m o s p h e r e and no reliable a t m o s p h e r i c r e c o r d e x i s t e d . I n d e e d , m a n y s c i e n t i s t s w e r e not c e r t a i n that o n e c o u l d d e t e c t m e a n i n g f u l patterns s u c h a s s e a s o n a l c h a n g e s , h e m i s p h e r i c dif ferences, and fossil fuel emissions with m e a s u r e m e n t s of s u c h a l o w - c o n c e n t r a t i o n c o n s t i t u e n t of the a t m o s p h e r e . The early measurements by Keeling b e g a n what w a s to b e c o m e a c o o r d i n a t e d g l o b a l monitoring network involving s c i e n t i s t s a n d a g e n c i e s 2
In Brief PAGE 4 4 3 Large-scale carbon sequestration p r o j e c t s T h e U.S. D e p a r t m e n t of Energy ( D O E ) a n n o u n c e d o n 9 O c t o b e r the first three large-scale c a r b o n sequestration projects in the United States. T h e three projects—Plains C a r b o n Dioxide Reduction Partnership, S o u t h e a s t R e g i o n a l C a r b o n S e q u e s t r a t i o n Partnership, and Southwest Regional Partnership for C a r b o n S e q u e s t r a t i o n — d o u b l e the n u m b e r of large-volume c a r b o n s t o r a g e d e m o n s t r a t i o n s in operation worldwide. DOE p l a n s to invest $197 million over 10 years, s u b j e c t to a n n u a l appropria tions from C o n g r e s s , for the projects, which are the first of several s e q u e s t r a t i o n d e m o n stration p r o j e c t s p l a n n e d through DOE's Regional C a r b o n S e q u e s t r a t i o n Partner ships. T h e s e p r o j e c t s will d e m o n s t r a t e the entire c a r b o n d i o x i d e ( C 0 ) injection pro 2
Author
Information
Philippe Marbaix, Institut d'Astronomie et Geophysique, Universite Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-laNeuve, Belgium; E-mail: philippe.marbaix@uclouvain .be; Robert J. Nicholls.Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, School of Civil Engineering and the Environment, University of Southampton, UK.
O c e a n o g r a p h y and Pieter T a n s of the NOAA Earth System R e s e a r c h Laboratory. A p a n e l addressing i m p a c t s and u r g e n c y i n c l u d e s V i c e Admiral Paul Gaffney II, c o a u t h o r of t h e Military Advisory B o a r d ' s National Secu rity and the Threat of Climate Change, and R i c h a r d S o m e r v i l l e , a c o o r d i n a t i n g lead author for IPCC a s s e s s m e n t reports.
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Rowley, R. J., J. C. Kostelnick, D. Braaten, X. Li, a n d J. Meisel ( 2 0 0 7 ) , Risk of rising s e a level to popula tion a n d land a r e a , E o s Trans. AGU, 5 5 ( 9 ) , 1 0 5 , 1 0 7 . Tol,R.S.J.,et al. ( 2 0 0 6 ) , Adaptation to five metres of s e a level rise,./ Risk Anal, 9 , 4 6 7 ^ 8 2 .
from c o u n t r i e s a r o u n d the world. Informa tion derived from this n e t w o r k — w h i c h n o w i n c l u d e s m a n y g r e e n h o u s e g a s e s , iso topes, and other tracers—has b e e n crucial for informing n a t i o n a l a n d i n t e r n a t i o n a l a s s e s s m e n t s of g l o b a l c l i m a t e c h a n g e , not t h e l e a s t of w h i c h a r e t h e I n t e r g o v e r n m e n tal P a n e l o n Climate C h a n g e (IPCC) a s s e s s m e n t reports. This c o n f e r e n c e will bring t o g e t h e r lead ers of b u s i n e s s , government, and s c i e n c e to d i s c u s s the g l o b a l C 0 r e c o r d , c l i m a t e c h a n g e , a n d what is n e e d e d from future C 0 m e a s u r e m e n t systems to monitor the efficacy of mitigation efforts. T h e confer e n c e will i n c l u d e a keynote s p e e c h by U.S. National A c a d e m y of S c i e n c e s president Ralph C i c e r o n e and p r e s e n t a t i o n s a n d pan els focusing on a r a n g e of c o n c e r n s . A s e s sion on what h a s b e e n l e a r n e d from the C 0 m e a s u r e m e n t r e c o r d will b e c h a i r e d by Ralph Keeling of the S c r i p p s Institution of 2
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c e s s — p r e i n j e c t i o n c h a r a c t e r i z a t i o n , injec tion p r o c e s s monitoring, a n d postinjection monitoring—at large v o l u m e s to d e t e r m i n e the ability of different g e o l o g i c settings to p e r m a n e n t l y store C 0 . T h e program earlier had identified m o r e than 3 0 0 0 billion met ric tons of potential storage c a p a c i t y in promising sinks, with the potential to repre sent m o r e than 1000 y e a r s of s t o r a g e c a p a c ity from point s o u r c e s in North A m e r i c a . 2
I m p r o v i n g Mississippi R i v e r w a t e r q u a l i t y If water quality in the Mississippi River a n d the northern Gulf of M e x i c o is to improve, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) n e e d s to take a stronger leader ship role in implementing the federal Clean Water Act, according to a 16 O c t o b e r report from the U.S. National R e s e a r c h Council. T h e report notes that EPA has failed to use its authority to coordinate and oversee activities along the river. In addition, river states n e e d to b e more proactive and cooperative in efforts to monitor and improve water quality,
A m o n g o t h e r c o n f e r e n c e highlights: IPCC Working Group I c o c h a i r S u s a n S o l o m o n , s e n i o r scientist at the NOAA Earth System R e s e a r c h Laboratory, will focus o n t h e g l o b a l c l i m a t e - r e l a t e d p r o b l e m of r e d u c i n g e m i s s i o n s of ozone-depleting s u b s t a n c e s , noting h o w this effort underscores useful approaches for addressing C 0 e m i s s i o n s ; Robert S o c o l o w of Princeton University, N. J . , will c h a i r a s e s s i o n on mitigation options; former California State A s s e m b l y m e m b e r Fran Pavley, c o a u t h o r of California's A B 32 tailpipe e m i s s i o n reduction bill, will lead a s e s s i o n on regional efforts to r e d u c e green h o u s e gas e m i s s i o n s ; a n d M i c h a e l Walsh, e x e c u t i v e v i c e president of the C h i c a g o Cli m a t e E x c h a n g e , will d i s c u s s e c o n o m i c t o o l s a n d financial incentives to r e d u c e emissions. 2
For m o r e information, visit the W e b site: http://www.co2conference.org. — J A M E S BUTLER AND MELINDA MARQUIS, NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory, Boulder, Colo.
and the river should b e monitored and evalu ated a s a single system, the report indicates. Currently, the 10 states along the river con duct separate and widely varying water qual ity monitoring programs. "The limited atten tion being given to monitoring and managing the Mississippi's water quality d o e s not match the river's significant e c o n o m i c , ecological, and cultural importance," said c o m m i t t e e chair David A. Dzombak, director of the Steinbrenner Institute for Environmental Education and R e s e a r c h at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pa. T h e report notes that while measures taken under the Clean Water Act have successfully reduced much point s o u r c e pollution, nutrient and sediment loads from nonpoint s o u r c e s continue to b e significant problems. For more information, visit the W e b site: http://books.nap.edu/catalog.php? record_id=12051.
—RANDY SHOWSTACK, Staff Writer
