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Domain: mmu.ac.uk
Stories and comments across the archive that link to mmu.ac.uk.
Stories · 2
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Aircraft Responsible For 2.5% of Global Carbon Dioxide Emissions
jIyajbe writes: Christie Aschwanden of FiveThirtyEight.com reports that the world's aircraft are responsible for roughly 2.5% of global carbon dioxide emissions. The industry as a whole puts out more CO2 than most countries, and emissions are expected to grow significantly over the next few decades. She writes, "Planes don't just release carbon dioxide, they also emit nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides and black carbon, as well as water vapor that can form heat-trapping clouds... These emissions take place in the upper troposphere, where their effects are magnified. When this so-called radiative forcing effect is taken into account, aviation emissions produce about 2.7 times the warming effects of CO2 alone." A related article breaks down how much each airline pollutes, relative to the others. Alaska, Spirit, and Frontier are tied for the highest fuel efficiency score, while American beats out Allegiant Air and Sun Country for the lowest spot. -
Rocky Mountains Keep Europe Warm
fldvm writes "The Earth Institute at Columbia University says that the rocky mountains are more responsible than the gulf stream for mild winters in Europe. See the press release, or google cache. The long held assumption had been that the warm water of the Gulf stream makes Western Europe warmer than Canada and and other parts at the same latitude. The researchers said that with computer models they removed the Gulf Stream and Europe stayed warm but when they flattened the mountains over North America the Eastern US was warmer and Europe was colder. "