[GWSG] Sensitivity; insurance; clouds & forests; Greenland's valleys; S Pole melt rate; glaciers & slr; China's solar goal

[Tilley, Al]

1.  Discrepancies between modern readings of warming and projections from models and history led the IPCC to reduce confidence in their calculation of climate sensitivity.  A new study accounts for the discrepancy, and pulls the sources into agreement on the higher figure in the range.  A video by the lead author explains the situation well.  http://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2014/may/12/sense-and-climate-sensitivity

2.  Insurers are second only to governments as funders of climate research.  They have, so far, done well by the growing dread of disasters.  http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/elements/2014/05/insuring-the-apocalypse.html
Farmers Insurance is suing 200 communities in the Chicago area for failure to anticipate problems brought on by climate disruption.  They argue that heavier rainfall, for example, is not an act of God but a foreseeable consequence of burning fossil fuels.  http://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFL1N0O11T620140516

3.  New research points to forests as sources of compounds basic to cloud formation.  The finding should help alleviate “the largest source of uncertainly in present climate models.”  Thanks to Henry Thomas for the item.  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/05/140515154136.htm

4.  Newly discovered deep valleys under the Greenland ice sheet, running for dozens of miles inland, will mean a much faster pace of sea level rise than formerly anticipated.  http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/5/18/greenland-ice-melt.html

5.  Satellite data indicate that mass loss from the Antarctic is accelerating.  http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-27465050#

6.  Eric Rignot reflects on the rate of the Antarctic’s contribution to sea level rise.  http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/17/climate-change-antarctica-glaciers-melting-global-warming-nasa

7.  The world’s glaciers are expected to contribute 30- 40 cm to sea level rise.  http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/unprecedented-b-c-glacier-melt-seeps-into-u-s-climate-change-concerns-1.2646742

8.  China announced plans to triple its solar capacity to 70 gigawatts by 2017 as part of a strategy to diminish dependence on coal.  http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2345344/china-aims-for-70gw-of-solar-in-race-to-ditch-coal
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