Land ice mass loss is the largest source of global sea level rise. Since 1992, two thirds of sea level contribution from land ice comes from the Arctic. Roughly half of Greenland ice sheet mass loss is from increased surface melting. The fraction from surface melting is even higher for smaller Arctic ice masses. The …
Living Planet Fellowship research project carried out by Ivan Pakhotin. Ivan’s recent published work in magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling (MIC) using the unprecedented Swarm dataset has revealed that Alfven waves play a key role in MIC dynamics, with small scales carrying very significant amounts of energy. His recent preliminary work has further indicated that in fact most …
Living Planet Fellowship research project carried out by Diane Knappett. Global distributions of the methane (CH4) column average and carbon monoxide (CO) total column are observable by satellite shortwave infrared (SWIR) spectrometers through detection of surface-reflected solar radiation. Observations by ENVISAT SCIAMACHY and GOSAT-TANSO have been exploited extensively to investigate biogenic, pyrogenic and anthropogenic sources …
Living Planet Fellowship research project carried out by Marco Bellacicco. Phytoplankton is considered to be responsible for approximately 50% of the planetary primary production and is at the basis of the trophic chain. Large scale factors such as climate, ocean circulation, and mostly anthropogenic activities, affect phytoplankton biomass and distribution. For all of these reasons, …
Living Planet Fellowship research project carried out by Mariette Vreugdenhil. Through its role in the global water-, carbon- and energy cycles, vegetation is a key control in land surface processes and land-atmosphere interactions. Vegetation is strongly affected by variability in climate drivers like temperature, radiation and water availability. Vegetation phenology, the timing of vegetation phases, …
Living Planet Fellowship research project carried out by William Llovel and Alice Carret. Global mean sea level rise is one of the most direct consequences of actual global warming. Since the beginning of the 20th century, global mean sea level experiences an unabated increase of 1.1-1.9 mm.yr-1 recorded by tide gauges. Based on satellite altimetry …
Living Planet Fellowship research project carried out by Jasdeep Singh Anand. Terrestrial ecosystems are a major carbon pool, and so act to mitigate anthropogenic climate change. However, vegetation in these carbon pools are damaged by tropospheric O3, which is formed from anthropogenic NOx and aerosol emissions. Damaged vegetation cannot sequester as much carbon, so this …
Living Planet Fellowship research project carried out by Jack Landy. Arctic-SummIT will deliver, for the first time, a sea ice thickness product during summer months from the ESA Cryosat-2 satellite. As the extent of Arctic sea ice has declined at unprecedented speed over the past few decades, we have been able to view only limited …
Living Planet Fellowship research project carried out by Francescopaolo Sica. Forests are of paramount importance for the Earth’s ecosystem, since they play a key-role in reducing the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and in controlling climate changes. The study of deforestation and development of global forest coverage and biomass is fundamental for assessing …
