User-recommended papers allows you to suggest a paper you would like to see on Climate Change. When these papers appear on our site, users may comment and vote on them. To recommend a paper please use this form. Please note that you cannot recommend a paper you have authored. The editors will reject any self-recommendations. All comments and recommendation are checked by the editors and may be edited prior to publication on the site.

  • Extreme Events

    • Tipping elements in the Earth's climate system

      • T. M. Lenton, H. Held, E. Kriegler, J. W. Hall, W. Lucht, S. Rahmstorf, H. J. Schellnhuber
        Original article citation: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences doi:10.1073/pnas.0705414105 (2008)

      • Categories: Climate Impacts, Policy, and Extreme Events
      • Recommended by the Editor: Anna Barnett on 02/11/2008 01:33PM GMT

        Lenton et al. review the dangers posed by nine climate 'tipping elements' - large-scale components in the earth's climate system that may pass a tipping point where small perturbations lead to qualitative changes. They've tried to capture cutting-edge thinking by supplementing the published literature with expert opinions elicited at a recent meeting on tipping points.
      • Comment on this subject: 0 comments made

    • Large contribution of sea surface warming to recent increase in Atlantic hurricane activity

      • Mark A. Saunders, Adam S. Lea
        Original article citation: Nature 451," 557 - 560, (2008).

      • Categories: Extreme Events and Climate Impacts
      • Recommended by the Editor: Anna Barnett on 01/31/2008 02:13PM GMT

        In this Nature paper, Saunders and Lea quantify the observed relationship between rising sea surface temperatures and North Atlantic hurricane activity, finding that "a 0.5 °C increase in sea surface temperature is associated with a approximately 40% increase in hurricane frequency and activity." Nature News has a Briefing explaining the paper at http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080130/full/news.2008.544.html#comments This is one of three new papers on sea surface temperature and hurricanes that we're featuring in the Journal Club this week. Taken together, what do you think these papers have to say?
      • Comment on this subject: 0 comments made

    • Human contribution to rapidly increasing frequency of very warm Northern Hemisphere summers

      • Gareth S. Jones, Peter A. Stott, Nikolaos Christidis
        Original article citation: J. Geophys. Res. 113," (2008).

      • Categories: Extreme Events and Regional Climate
      • Recommended by the Editor: Olive Heffernan on 01/28/2008 06:45PM GMT

        In the last 20-40 years, extremely hot summers - such as the 2003 heatwave that killed an estimated 30,000 Europeans - have become more frequent in regions across the Northern Hemisphere, Jones et al. point out. Comparing observed Northern Hemisphere temperatures to the predictions of climate models with or without anthropogenic contributions, they conclude that humans have been the dominant cause. Unsurprisingly, the models indicate that we can expect even more scorching summers in the future.
      • Comment on this subject: 0 comments made

    • Global warming and United States landfalling hurricanes

      • Chunzai Wang, Sang-Ki Lee
        Original article citation: Geophys. Res. Lett. 35," (2008).

      • Categories: Extreme Events and Climate Impacts
      • Recommended by the Editor: Anna Barnett on 01/28/2008 06:43PM GMT

        Focusing on the relationship between sea surface temperature and vertical wind shear, this paper by Wang and Lee "uses observational data to demonstrate that the attribution of the recent increase in Atlantic hurricane activity to global warming is premature and that global warming may decrease the likelihood of hurricanes making landfall in the United States." This is one of three new papers on sea surface temperature and hurricanes that we're featuring in the Journal Club this week. Taken together, what do you think these papers have to say?
      • Comment on this subject: 0 comments made

    • Carbon-cycle feedbacks increase the likelihood of a warmer future

      • H. Damon Matthews, David W. Keith
        Original article citation: Geophys. Res. Lett. 34," (2007).

      • Categories: Climate Prediction, Policy, and Extreme Events
      • Recommended by the Editor: Olive Heffernan on 06/06/2007 09:21PM GMT

        In this paper published last month in GRL, Matthews and Keith use coupled climate-carbon models to assess the likely impacts of carbon-cycle feedbacks on future warming scenarios. By incorporating carbon-cycle feedbacks into the models, they show that feedback mechanisms can lead to dramatic increases in extreme warming probabilities. For example, for CO2 stabilization at 550 ppm, the probability of exceeding 2°C warming by end of century increases by a factor of between 1.7 and 3 when feedbacks are included. The authors suggest that the effects of positive carbon-cycle feedbacks on the likelihood of extreme future warming should be accounted for in climate policy-related decision making
      • Comment on this subject: 0 comments made

site resources

search & explore