oceanlove

  FIGHTING CLIMATE CHANGE ISN’T AN AUTOMATIC WIN FOR ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE Some simulated pathways for reducing emissions in the U.S. maintained or exacerbated existing racial inequities Air pollution over Los Angeles neighborhoods. Photo: rushay booysen/iStockPhoto In the United States in 2017, people of color were exposed to 10% more particulate matter air pollution compared to white people. This well-documented inequity has been baked into the fabric of American life by  racist housing policies  like  redlining  and has left a legacy of  negative health outcomes  for communities of color across the nation. The kind of sweeping cuts to greenhouse gas emissions needed to fight climate change are expected to improve air quality because burning fossil fuels also produces air pollution. But a new study from researchers at the University of California San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography and School of Global Policy and Strategy shows that while...

  NEW MEASUREMENTS SUGGEST TROPICAL CYCLONES MAY INFLUENCE GLOBAL CLIMATE Scripps researchers find that tropical cyclones cause deeper and longer lasting ocean warming than previously thought, setting the stage for unexpected and far reaching implications Tropical cyclone spins over the Pacific Ocean. Photo: kctony01/iStock New research from scientists at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography finds tropical cyclones cause ocean turbulence that extends deeper than previously thought, causing mixing that transfers heat from the surface to waters nearly 300 meters (roughly 1,000 feet) down. The researchers suggest that the ocean warming caused by tropical cyclones goes deep enough to persist for months or years and travel far from its point of origin, potentially altering the broader patterns of ocean circulation that partly regulate Earth’s climate. The  study , published June 20 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, draws its conclusions from dire...