http://projects.sfchronicle.com/2016/sea-level-rise/ Source:   By John King, San Francisco Chronicle For Investigation:  10.3 Excerpt: An abundance of scientific studies says the bay’s average tide could climb several feet or more by 2100, with most change coming in the decades after 2050. It’s an inexorable shift that threatens low-lying neighborhoods as well as the fish, birds and wildlife that need tidal flats to survive. If sea levels were to rise 36 inches, the midrange increase through 2100 projected in the most recent study by the National Research Council, water would wash into San Francisco’s Ferry Building twice daily at high tide. With just 16 inches of sea-level rise, the tollbooths of the Bay Bridge could be flooded during storms. $35 billion worth of public property in San Francisco is at risk if sea-level rise by 2100 reaches 66 inches, the upper level forecast by the National Research Council. Already, lanes on the ramps connecting Highway 101 to the Shoreline High

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/05/earth-s-climate-may-not-warm-quickly-expected-suggest-new-cloud-studies Source:   By Tim Wogan, Science For Investigation:   10.3 Excerpt:  three new studies show how naturally emitted gases from trees can also form the seed particles for clouds. The results not only point to a cloudier past, but they also indicate a potentially cooler future: If Earth’s climate is less sensitive to rising carbon dioxide (CO2) levels, as the study suggests, future temperatures may not rise as quickly as predicted....

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/24/science/solar-power-floating-on-water.html Source:   By Erica Goode, The New York Times. For Investigation:   10.3 Excerpt: An expanse of blue solar panels stretches across part of the Yamakura Dam reservoir in Japan’s Chiba Prefecture. In two years, if construction goes as planned, 50,904 panels will float atop the reservoir, generating an estimated 16,170 megawatt hours annually, enough electricity to power almost 5,000 homes, according to Kyocera, the company building the solar plant. ...Unlike most land-based solar plants, floating arrays can also be hidden from public view, a factor in the nonprofit Sonoma Clean Power Company’s decision to pursue the technology. “Sonoma County boasts some of the most beautiful rolling hills, and people don’t want to see them covered by solar panels,” said Rebecca Simonson, a senior power analyst for the renewable energy developer, .... The floating arrays have other assets. They help keep water from evaporati

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/05/us-moves-cut-greenhouse-emissions-farms-new-study-finds-big-global-challenge Source:   By Virginia Gewin, Patrick Monahan, Science For Investigation:   10.3 Excerpt: From cow burps to decaying food waste, agriculture is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. Researchers estimate farms are responsible for about 13% of total global emissions, making it the world’s second-largest source, after energy production. And now that nations have committed to trying to hold global warming to no more than 2°C above preindustrial levels, researchers and policymakers are looking for practical ways to cut agriculture’s contribution to climate change. Two recent developments could inform that search. Last week, officials in the United States—one of the world’s largest sources of agricultural products—released a progress report on U.S. efforts to promote “climate smart” agriculture. And this week, an international research team published a study that high

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/03/us/resettling-the-first-american-climate-refugees.html Source:   By Coral Davenport and Campbell Robertson, The New York Times For Investigation:   10.3 Excerpt: ISLE DE JEAN CHARLES, La. ...In January, the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced grants totaling $1 billion in 13 states to help communities adapt to climate change, by building stronger levees, dams and drainage systems. One of those grants, $48 million for Isle de Jean Charles, is something new: the first allocation of federal tax dollars to move an entire community struggling with the impacts of climate change. The divisions the effort has exposed and the logistical and moral dilemmas it has presented point up in microcosm the massive problems the world could face in the coming decades as it confronts a new category of displaced people who have become known as climate refugees. “We’re going to lose all our heritage, all our culture,” lamented Chief Albert Naquin of th

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/03/science/carbon-dioxide-recycling.html Source:   By Henry Fountain, The New York Times For Investigation:  10.3 Excerpt: BERKELEY, Calif. — Think, for a moment, of carbon dioxide as garbage, a waste product from burning fossil fuels. Like other garbage, almost all of that CO2 is thrown away — into the atmosphere, where it contributes to climate change. A small amount is captured and stored underground to keep it out of the air. But increasingly, scientists are asking, rather than throwing away or storing CO2, how about recycling some of it? ...the ultimate goal of researchers in this field is to turn the waste product of fuel-burning into new fuel. In theory, if this could be done on a large scale using renewable energy or even sunlight, there would be no net gain of emissions — the same carbon dioxide molecules would be emitted, captured, made into new fuels and emitted again, over and over. ...Carbon dioxide is used to make some basic products li