Drought under global warming: a review

This article reviews recent literature on drought of the last millennium, followed by an update on global aridity changes from 1950 to 2008. Projected future aridity is presented based on recent studies and our analysis of model simulations. Dry periods lasting for years to decades have occurred many times during the last millennium over, for example, North America, West Africa, and East Asia. These droughts were likely triggered by anomalous tropical sea surface temperatures (SSTs), with La Niña‐like SST anomalies leading to drought in North America, and El‐Niño‐like SSTs causing drought in East China. Over Africa, the southward shift of the warmest SSTs in the Atlantic and warming in the Indian Ocean are responsible for the recent Sahel droughts. Local feedbacks may enhance and prolong drought. [1]

Global warming in an unequal world: a case of environmental colonialism

 The idea that developing countries must share the blame for climate change is an example of environmental colonialism. The manner in which the global warming debate is being carried out is only sharpening and deepening the North-South divide. A major problem is how to share the global commons of carbon dioxide and methane sinks. A system of global tradeable permits should be introduced to control global greenhouse gas emissions. 12 refs., 7 figs., 6 tabs. [2]

Balance as bias: global warming and the US prestige press

 This paper demonstrates that US prestige-press coverage of global warming from 1988 to 2002 has contributed to a significant divergence of popular discourse from scientific discourse. This failed discursive translation results from an accumulation of tactical media responses and practices guided by widely accepted journalistic norms. Through content analysis of US prestige press—meaning the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and the Wall Street Journal—this paper focuses on the norm of balanced reporting, and shows that the prestige press’s adherence to balance actually leads to biased coverage of both anthropogenic contributions to global warming and resultant action. [3]

Role of Atmospheric Convection in Global Warming

Aims: Geophysical convection calculations can potentially obscure details necessary to understand convective-heat-transfer changes caused by changes in the adverse temperature gradient. The objective is to ascertain the functional relationship between adverse temperature gradient and convection efficiency. [4]

Air Pollution, Not Greenhouse Gases: The Principal Cause of Global Warming

 Aim: Gottschalk demonstrated the bump coincident with World War II is a robust feature showing up in eight independent NOAA temperature databases. Without contradicting Gottschalk’s conclusion, I consider the broader activities of WW2, especially the manner of altering Earth’s delicate energy balance by particulate aerosols and then generalise to post-WW2 global warming. The aim is to present evidence that particulate pollution, not greenhouse gases, is the principal cause of global warming. [5]

Reference

[1]  Dai, A., 2011. Drought under global warming: a review. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, 2(1), pp.45-65.

[2] Agarwal, A. and Narain, S., 1991. Global warming in an unequal world: A case of environmental colonialism (Vol. 17). New Delhi: Centre for Science and Environment.

[3] Boykoff, M.T. and Boykoff, J.M., 2004. Balance as bias: global warming and the US prestige press. Global environmental change, 14(2), pp.125-136.

[4] Herndon, J. M. (2019) “Role of Atmospheric Convection in Global Warming”, Journal of Geography, Environment and Earth Science International, 19(4), pp. 1-8. doi: 10.9734/jgeesi/2019/v19i430091.

[5] Herndon, J. M. (2018) “Air Pollution, Not Greenhouse Gases: The Principal Cause of Global Warming”, Journal of Geography, Environment and Earth Science International, 17(2), pp. 1-8. doi: 10.9734/JGEESI/2018/44290.