Climate Change blog from different sources.

12 Years Left

17/7/2019

Earlier this year the United Nations warned the world that we have just 12 years left to get global warming down to 1.5 degrees if we are to avoid the risk of an unprecedented catastrophe. This is not the first warning we have been given, and despite huge efforts from the conference of parties (Paris Agreement) we still seem to be a long way from meeting this target.

UN Climate Change News, 7 June, Bonn – UN Climate Change today launched its Annual Report, highlighting the progress made on tackling climate change in 2018. “Stepping up action has never been more urgent. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) special report on the impacts of global warming at 1.5 °C, requested at COP21, made this crystal clear,” said UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa. “We are running out of time to stay under this limit.”

Espinosa added:
“I have hope. Alongside new scientific evidence and the increasingly observable signs of climate change – from melting glaciers to massive storms – 2018 showed that the world is now ready and determined to act. As this annual report illustrates, the UNFCCC secretariat continued to support tirelessly the global climate platform that supports and encourages this progress.” This UN report can be seen here.

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Journey of the GEDI

17/7/2019

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The Jedi of Luke Skywalker, who battles to save his friends from the Galactic Empire – “May the Force be With You” – sounds a trumpet call for the other GEDI, which made its journey to the International Space Station in December 2018.

This is NASA’s Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) mission . From its perch aboard the International Space Station, GEDI's powerful lasers create detailed 3D maps of Earth’s forests and topography – providing innovative and unique spaceborne observations. This GEDI mission is now giving scientists a level of detail which they have never had before - the power to see crucial measurements of the Earth’s forests.

“GEDI provides a vertical record, not only of how tall trees are, but how much canopy material there is at any height,” said Ralph Dubayah, GEDI principal investigator and a professor of geographical sciences at the University of Maryland. “GEDI will make over 10 billion individual observations of canopy structures, which is orders of magnitude more than we have ever had.”

The journey, or mission, of GEDI is expected to last two years. For details of this exciting NASA project visit this website https://gedi.umd.edu/applications/forest-management-and-carbon-cycling/

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