Emailing "Climate Sciences Update"
As we prepare for a major winter storm here in the Atlantic Midwest, it's easy to forget that scientists claim the planet is warming more rapidly than in any other period of history. The struggle to respond to this phenomenon, and the accompanying political and economic implications, raise a lot of passions and discussion. In the middle of this storm is the science of global warming, and the conversations surrounding the scientific data and analysis are far from conclusive or one-sided.
Late last year, the so-called "Climategate" scandal broke to the surface, where researchers at a key climate change study center in the UK were accused of everything from making up their data to manipulating their analysis to browbeating anyone who denied climate change. Climate change skeptics pounced on Climategate, whipping up media speculation into a storm, and the end result was to sow doubt in the public's mind about the reality of global warming and perhaps, slowed down momentum at the COP-15 conference as well.
Now that passions from Climategate have cooled, it turns out that one of the key scientists involved in that scandal, Dr. Michael Mann, has been cleared of any misconduct by an academic panel at Penn State, where he works. Specifically, the panel investigated allegations that Mann (1) falsified or suppressed data; (2) deleted or concealed emails regarding a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; (3) Misused privileged or confidential information; and (4) deviated from accepted practices within the academic community. On the first three charges (which in my mind, are the most serious), the panel found
no credible evidence that Mann was guilty. On the fourth charge, the University found it lacked evidence to make a determination, and has convened another panel to look into that allegation. Mann
welcomes the move, hoping it will clear up any lingering doubts.
Now, on to the science part.
Two studies were released last month that really get to the heart of climate science, and they are really interesting. In the first study, scientists studied "positive feedback" which is what happens when snow melts, sun gets absorbed rather than reflected by snow, and warms the planet. Scientists are very worried that is positive feedback can amplify the effects of global warming, but this study finds that the worries may be overamplified. In the second study, scientists studied water vapor in the higher atmosphere, which can also trap greenhouse gasses. The warmer the planet becomes, the more humidity and water vapor in the air, and more trapping happens. The study found, much to the scientists' surprise, that the amount of water vapor in the air declined during the same years that the planet warmed.
Finally, on to science data that may dramatically impact data center operations. Scientists at Princeton University have been studying how to
embed brittle ribbons into silicon rubber, in order to allow them to flex and capture mechanical energy when moved. The science is applied to discover ways to flex wings of dragonfly spy drones, but if successful, scientists can place these wafers on the housing of data center servers to capture vibrations to generate electricity that can be stored in batteries. So will the next generation of data centers be self powered by the vibrations generated by servers? These cientists say, why not?