Zero Carbon Britain: Model developed by the Centre for Alternative Technology of how Britain can adapt to a zero carbon economy by 2050.

From the UK Climate Impacts Programme newsletter:

Communicating climate change

A very readable guide to the psychology of climate change communication is available to download for free at http://www.cred.columbia.edu/guide/

Google Earth layer shows distribution of global greenhouse gas emissions

Add-on layers are now available for Google Earth, to allow visualization of the annual distribution of global greenhouse gas emissions at local levels from 1970-2005 and by main emission sources in the year 2005. Data used come from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre and the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency’s Emission Database for Global Research (EDGAR). The EDGAR spatial emission datasets are used by scientists for global and regional atmospheric chemistry and climate modelling. Through Google Earth, this information is being made accessible to a wider audience, to create awareness of how emissions are distributed over the globe and the different evolution of emissions in the world over time. More information is at http://edgar.jrc.ec.europa.eu/kml_files_intro.php

Global impacts of rising temperatures – visualisation from the Met Office

To coincide with last month’s Copenhagen climate change meeting, the Met Office has produced a map to show some of the impacts the world might see if global temperatures rise by 2 °C. This complements a similar map, published in October 2009, exploring at the impacts on the world if the mean temperature climbed by 4 °C. In view of the disappointing outcome of the Copenhagen meeting, the maps are a gloomy reminder of what could lie ahead. http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climatechange/news/latest/tackling-temps.html

Ocean uptake of carbon dioxide – new briefing note

The Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership has recently prepared a briefing note on the ocean uptake of carbon dioxide. The oceans act as a carbon sink, but the processes that enable carbon dioxide to be taken up by the oceans are themselves vulnerable to climate change. More details are in the full briefing note, available to download at http://www.mccip.org.uk/news/MCCIP_BriefingNote-Ocean_uptake_of_CO2.pdf

Residential research programme – climate modelling and prediction

The Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences in Cambridge is hosting a residential research programme, Mathematical and Statistical Approaches to Climate Modelling and Prediction, from 11 August to 22 December. The programme aims to bring together mathematicians, statisticians and climate scientists, to make progress towards solving some of the major issues currently facing climate prediction. The organisers would now like to issue an open invitation to participate to anyone with relevant expertise. Applicants should email Professor John Huthnance (jmh@pol.ac.uk) by 29 January 2010, indicating: relevance of their expertise, reasons for wanting to participate, the period(s) they would be available to stay in Cambridge, any funding required (some resources available), any further requirements e.g. family accommodation; and a brief CV (max. 2 pages). For more details and contact information, visit http://www.newton.ac.uk/programmes/CLP/index.html