The other side of the sea-level rise debate

Two scientists say predictions of drastic sea-level rise and climate change are bad science. During a forum sponsored by the Positive Growth Alliance and the Caesar Rodney Institute, the pair distanced themselves from widely-held claims surrounding pending environmental changes.

Willie Soon, a researcher at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, said dire predictions of accelerated sea-level rise over the next 100 years were based on flawed data.

Joining him as a featured speaker, David Legates, a University of Delaware professor of climatology and state climatologist from 2005 to 2011, said there are no clear signs sea-level rise is accelerating. In fact, Legates says, Delaware is sinking at about 1.7 mm per year.

Warming World Caused Southern Ocean to Exhale - ScienceNOW

But the Southern Ocean plays a more benign role in the global carbon budget: Its waters now take up about 50% of the atmospheric carbon dioxide emitted by human activities, thanks in large part to the so-called "biological pump."

Science Magazine: [paywalled]

A More Modest Climate Agenda for Obama's Second Term?
Science 22 March 2013:
Vol. 339 no. 6126 pp. 1372DOI:10.1126/science.339.6126.1372

Giant Sequoias Face Looming Threat from Shifting Climate by Bruce Dorminey: Yale Environment 360

The threat to sequoias mirrors a growing danger to trees worldwide, with some scientists saying rapid warming this century could wipe out many of the planet’s old trees.