Review: The Effects of Supersonic Aviation on Ozone and Climate

When working towards regulation of supersonic aviation, a comprehensive understanding of the global climate effect of supersonic aviation is required in order to develop future regulatory issues. Such research requires a comprehensive overview of existing scientific literature having explored the climate effect of aviation. This review article provides an overview on earlier studies assessing the climate effects of supersonic aviation, comprising non-CO2 effects. An overview on the historical evaluation of research focussing on supersonic aviation and its environmental impacts is provided, followed by an overview on concepts explored and construction of emission inventories. Quantitative estimates provided for individual effects are presented and compared. Subsequently, regulatory issues related to supersonic transport are summarised. Finally, requirements for future studies, e.g., in emission scenario construction or numerical modelling of climate effects, are summarised and main conclusions discussed.

Corporate governance and extent of corporate sustainability practice: the role of investor activism

Purpose Following the unceasing pressure on companies to adopt sustainable business practices to mitigate climate effect, this study aims to examine corporate governance (CG) attributes and role of activist investors in influencing extensive sustainability practice for firms in the developed and emerging climes. Design/methodology/approach Using a panel ordered probit regression analysis for 368 companies over 2016 to 2019, the study examined CG attributes that drive extensive corporate sustainability practice. The study addressed endogeneity bias using STATA Extended panel ordered probit regression model with endogenous covariates. Findings The result showed CG attributes is critical for firms, and activist investors play a critical role in driving extensive sustainability practice. Findings further reveal the extent of adoption is relatively low in the emerging climes but showed sign of improvement over the years examined. Research limitations/implications The study focused mainly on larger firms operating in different sectors globally. Hence, findings cannot be generalized for small sized entities. Practical implications The study provides an insightful explanation regarding the extensive sustainability practices and the vital role assumed by activist investors. Social implications The increasing number of companies responding to Carbon Disclosure Project and consequent improvement in scores indicates a corporate commitment to ensuring a sustainable future. Originality/value This research offers significant insights to the extent discussion on attributes of CG critical for sustainability practice. The findings ascertain useful tools to aid the continued adoption of sound sustainability practices around the globe.

Aerosol - cloud - climate effect : Study with a radiative transfer model

The indirect radiative forcing (through the enhancement of cloud albedo) due to anthropogenic sulphate aerosols was calculated using a three-dimensional radiative transfer model. The calculations were made with diurnal and seasonal cycles and three-dimensional distributions of sulphate aerosol concentration data. The globally averaged annual mean indirect forcing is estimated to be -1.13 Wm-2 which is comparable with the recent General Circulation Model calculations. This forcing of -1.13 Wm-2 is compared with 2.12 Wm-2 due to increase in greenhouse gases from the pre-industrial period to the present. This indirect forcing due to anthropogenic aerosol is substantially higher than the warming effect due to gases over the industrial regions in the northern hemisphere, so that the net radiative forcing over these regions is negative. i.e., cooling. Some uncertainties in the estimation of the indirect forcing that needs further research are pointed out.

Improving Family Health Climate, Effect of Role Modeling and Maternal Support in Female Student

Introduction: Girls can use their mothers emotional, informational and behavioral support to perform healthy behaviors due to their constant access to their mothers. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of role modeling and maternal support in the family to improve healthy behaviors and perceived Family Health Climate (FHC) in female students.Methods: In this quasi-experimental study 261 female students (133 in intervention group and 128 in control group) and 223 mothers (109 intervention and 114 control) were selected, using cluster multi-stages sampling method and entered the study. Participants completed the FHC scale at three stages (Before intervention, immediately after the intervention and two month after intervention). A training programme which comprised 12 sessions for students and 6 sessions for their mothers using collaborative learning techniques and printed materials was conducted with the experimental group. Data were analyzed using SPSS20 via chi-square test, independent t-test, and Repeated Measures ANOVA at significance level of 0.05.Results: Before the intervention, there was no significant difference between demographic variables and the score of FHC scale in both groups (p<0.05). Immediately and two months after the intervention, the experimental group (female students and their mothers) showed a significant increase in dimensions of FHC including FHC-NU and FHC-PA (their subscales) compared to the control group (p<0.05).Conclusions: Educating and informing mothers about their role model defects for their children, especially girls, can make them more aware of health-oriented behaviors towards their children. Such findings reinforced the importance of focusing on actions to encourage a healthy lifestyle (healthy diet and physical activity) in students with a focus on role modeling and parental support, especially mothers.

Temporary Nature-based Carbon Removal Can Lower Peak Warming in a Well-below 2°C Scenario

There is growing recognition that meeting the climate objectives of the Paris Agreement will require the world to achieve net-zero carbon dioxide emissions around or before mid-century1–4. Natural climate solutions (NCS), which aim to preserve and enhance carbon storage in terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems5,6, are increasingly being evoked as a potential contributor to net-zero emissions targets7,8. However, there is a risk that any carbon that we succeed in storing in land-based systems could be subsequently lost back to the atmosphere as a result of either climate-related or human-caused disturbances such as wildfire or deforestation9–12. Here, we show that temporary NCS-based carbon sequestration has the potential to decrease the peak temperature increase, but only if implemented alongside an ambitious mitigation scenario where fossil fuel CO2 emissions were decreased to net-zero during the time that NCS-sequestered carbon remained stored. We also demonstrate the importance of non-CO2 climate effects of NCS implementation, which have the potential to counter a substantial portion of the climate effect of carbon sequestration. Our results suggest that there is some climate benefit associated with temporary NCS, but only if implemented as a complement (and not an alternative) to ambitious fossil fuel CO2 emissions reductions.

A Precursory Signal of the Central Pacific El Niño Event: Eastern Pacific Cooling Mode

In recent decades, the tropical Pacific frequently experiences a new type of El Niño with warming center in the central tropical Pacific (i.e., the CP-El Niño) with distinct global climate effect to the traditional El Niño (i.e., EP-El Niño). Predicting the El Niño diversity is still a huge challenge for climatologists partly due to the precursory signals of El Niño events with different type is unclear. In the present study, a novel precursory signal that presents a negative sea surface temperature anomaly in the eastern tropical Pacific (i.e., EP-cooling mode) is revealed, which tends to evolve into a CP-El Niño event. The transition from the EP-cooling mode to CP-El Niño is explained by the basin-scale air-sea coupling in the tropical Pacific and teleconnections between the tropical and North Pacific. With the EP-cooling mode as a predictor, the forecast skill for the CP-El Niño in hindcast experiments is obviously improved by using regression models. The results in the present study are therefore instructive for promoting a better understanding of El Niño diversity and predictability.