Climate Corner, June 2018

May 2018 the Fourth Warmest on Record

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association's (NOAA's) most recent global climate report for May 2018 showed that worldwide temperatures were the fourth highest they’ve ever been since records began in 1880. Furthermore, the four warmest Mays have all occurred in the past five years. Record warm temperatures were seen across parts of North America and Europe, where it was the warmest May on record for these continents as a whole. Cooler-than-average temperatures were seen across far eastern Canada and central Russia. Visit the full site to see detailed summaries for each region or for individual countries, or to check out global climate reports for nearly month since 1997. You can also use NOAA’s Climate at a Glance Tool to look up monthly rankings for 1-12, 18, 24, 36, 48, and 60-month time periods.

How Might Climate Change Affect Grassland Decomposers?

Understanding the climate constraints on microbial decomposer communities is necessary to predict how future changes may affect vital carbon cycling processes. A recent study published in the journal of the Ecological Society of America looked at mass loss, litter chemistry, microbial biomass, extracellular enzyme activities, and enzyme temperature sensitivities in grassland litter a Mediterranean climate gradient in southern California. They found that these grassland microbial communities were able to decompose litter under different climate conditions, although there was some evidence that local communities do have optimal climate ranges. Read more in the full article (free to subscribers).

A Wide Range of Climate Change Abstracts Available

Abstracts from the 4th International Symposium on Effects of Climate Change on the World’s Oceans was held in Washington, DC in early June are now available online. The site also includes summaries and abstracts from North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES) meetings and select other climate conferences going back to 2003.