Science Briefs
Articles in this news and features section are short to medium-length descriptions prepared by GISS scientists about their own research, often in connection with the publication of related journal articles. These summaries are shorn of most technical language and may be thought of as "popular science" discussions of selected GISS research topics.
Listed below are science briefs which have been written since 2011. Science briefs about older research are listed on separate pages for 2006-2010, 2001-2005, and 1995-2000.
NASA news and features about GISS research achievements may be found in the NASA Releases pages. Some articles about GISS research prepared by other NASA sites and publications as well as affiliated institutions appear amongst the Research Features.
2020
A Focus on Food Can Help Solve Climate Change
Taking a global food system approach to climate change research — production, supply chains, and consumption — is a key step in both adapting to and mitigating climate change.
(2020-02-18)
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2019
Rising Sea Levels, Frequent Floods: Effects on NYC Neighborhoods
Neighborhoods on NYC's Queens and Brooklyn shorelines will see more frequent "nuisance flooding" as sea levels rise due to climate change.
(2019-09-27)
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Sediment Starvation Destroys New York City Marshes' Resistance to Sea Level Rise
The steady loss of marshes in NYC's Jamaica Bay is typical of many urban estuaries, where the threat of rising sea level is enhanced by urban encroachment, pollution, and upriver dams.
(2019-06-05)
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2017
Atmospheric Circulation Shifts Alter Clouds, Affect Climate Sensitivity
Shifts in atmospheric circulation and consequent changes in cloud cover lead to differing temperature effects in the north and south hemispheres. How well climate models simulate this influences their climate sensitivity.
(2017-06-26)
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Smoldering Shifts to Flame as Climate Forces Forest Change
A study of lake sediment records from Connecticut reveals interactions between past climate, forest ecology, and fire indicators.
(2017-01-13)
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Can Climate Change be Noticed Locally?
After almost 20 years, GISS has re-visited the Common Sense Climate Index, a value whose persistent change should be perceptible to the general public.
(2017-01-10)
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2016
Investigating Climate Effect on Vegetation and Carbon in Coastal Alaska
Peatlands store up to one-third of Earth's soil carbon and are sensitive to changes in climate. Studying peatland sediments offers understanding of past and future response to climate change.
(2016-06-07)
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Improving Global Model Precipitation Patterns by Downscaling
The inability of global climate models to match the timing or placement of short-term or regional precipitation patterns such as the West African monsoon may be alleviated by "downscaling" to use smaller scale climate models with increased area resolution.
(2016-02-17)
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2015
Accounting for Climate's Backseat Drivers
The climate would be a much easier system to study if there was only one thing going on at a time. Unfortunately, all of the different external forcings happen independently. As climate changes, can we make any clear attributions to the individual factors?
(2015-10-23)
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Study Assesses Fragility of Global Food System
As global food networks become more complex and interdependent, how concerned should we be about the stability of the system being disrupted by geopolitical, economic, and climatic events?
(2015-03-19)
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2014
How Does the Atlantic Cold Tongue Affect West African Rains?
Researchers used a regional climate model to study links between a streak of cooler water in the tropical Atlantic during spring to the timing and intensity of West African monsoon rains.
(2014-04-14)
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AeroCom Compares Organic Aerosols in 31 Global Models
Phase II of the AeroCom project evaluated how 31 different global models handle organic aerosols in the atmosphere, with half now including formation of secondary aerosols from volatile compounds.
(2014-03-26)
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2013
Coal and Gas are Far More Harmful than Nuclear Power
A study based on historical and projected energy usage finds that replacing nuclear power with coal or natural gas would make it even harder to mitigate human-caused climate change and air pollution.
(2013-04-17)
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2012
Climate Modelers and the Moth
A new study explores the relative control of vegetation life cycles and meteorology in the climate-model context, and its implications for model development and complexity decisions.
(2012-12-11)
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The New Climate Dice: Public Perception of Climate Change
A new statistical analysis has found that Earth's land areas have become much more likely to experience an extreme summer heat wave than they were in the middle of the 20th century.
(2012-08-06)
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The Great Ice Meltdown and Rising Seas
What lessons can we learn from the past history of glacial ice melt and sea-level rise about what will happen in the next century as the climate warms?
(2012-06-11)
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Will a Warmer World Be Stormier?
No single extreme event is evidence of climate change. But what is the likelihood of more events such as stronger thunderstorms and hurricanes as surface temperatures rise?
(2012-04-24)
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Earth's Energy Budget Remains Out of Balance
A new NASA study underscores the fact that greenhouse gases generated by human activity — not changes in solar activity — are the primary force driving global warming.
(2012-01-30)
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2011
Understanding Ice Formation in Arctic Clouds
Airborne and ground-based measurements from an International Polar Year field project were used to revisit a long-standing problem in cloud physics: what is the primary source of ice crystals in mixed-phase clouds?
(2011-11-07)
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Impact of Tropical Atlantic Temperatures on Rainfall
A regional climate model study examines the influence of warm ocean surface temperatures in the eastern tropical Atlantic in summer to see what an increase of a few degrees Celsius does to rainfall.
(2011-08-10)
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Earth's Climate History: Implications for Tomorrow
Study of Earth's past climate reveals not only how much Earth's temperature may change due to increased greenhouse gases but also the significant changes in sea level that could result.
(2011-07-20)
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Adapting to Sea Level Rise in New York City
As warming climate causes sea level rise, coastal urban areas such as New York City face more frequent and intense episodic flooding following storms and inundation of some low-lying areas
(2011-04-26)
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Clouds — An Unwelcome Blanket for Arctic Sea Ice?
A study of Arctic climate finds that cloud cover mostly oscillates between two widely different states, which affects our understanding of and ability to predict sea ice decline.
(2011-02-07)
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