Drilling Back to the Future: Climate Clues from Ancient Ice on Greenland
Just before the last Ice Age, temperatures were 5 to 9 degrees F warmer than today, and global sea level was 13 to 20 feet higher. In July 2009, Climate Central traveled to Greenland to visit scientists drilling into ancient ice for clues about this chapter of the past, and what it might say about the potential effects of global warming this century.
Greenland: Life on the Greenland Ice Sheet
An international team of scientists just wrapped up their first season toward drilling a 1.6-mile core of solid ice in Greenland, bringing them one step closer to reconstructing the climate of the past 130,000 years. Accompanied by a production team from StormCenter Communications, Dr. Heidi Cullen spent some time with these scientists on the ice and in their underground trenches to find out what life is like in this remote place.
Greenland: The Pilots of the 109th Airlift Wing
The Air Force National Guard is a vital part of climate research in the far north of Greenland. Dr. Heidi Cullen, with a production team from StormCenter Communications, met with the pilots of the 109th Airlift Wing to talk about what it’s like to fly in extreme weather conditions, and their dangerous job – getting people and equipment into Greenland's harsh interior and back.
Greenland: Ice Cores and Climate
An international team of climate scientists, working on the NEEM research project, has just completed their first season toward drilling a 1.6-mile deep vertical core of solid ice in Greenland, looking for clues about ancient and future climates. In July of 2009, Dr. Heidi Cullen traveled to Greenland with a production team from StormCenter Communications to visit the team, and discuss their findings.
Washington: Warming and Wildfires
Wildfires are on the rise in the State of Washington, as they are in much of the American West—and climate change looks at least partly responsible. This report explores the connections between rising temperatures, melting snows, multiplying beetles and the increase in wildfires as well as the toll fires are taking on forests and the people who live in and around them.
Carbon Counter Launched
A massive new billboard was installed in midtown Manhattan on June 18. It's a first-ever carbon counter that gives an up-to-the minute reading of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere—like a debt clock for the climate.
Georgia: Coal and Carbon
Coal generates carbon dioxide when combusted, which is causing the world to warm. In Georgia, a state that gets over 60 percent of its electricity from coal, some coastal residents are connecting the dots between coal and changes in the local ecology and economy attributed to global warming. Recognizing the need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, engineers are exploring "clean coal" technology. What is this technology? Will it work?
Iowa: Corn and Climate
Congress helped bolster the corn ethanol business in Iowa by mandating the Renewable Fuel Standard in 2005. But scientists are concerned about the unexpected consequences of putting more of Iowa's land into corn production—consequences that may make corn ethanol a bigger source of climate—warming gases than regular gasoline.
