Computer models that predict climate change may be overestimating the cooling power of clouds, new research suggests. If the findings are borne out, it suggests that making progress against warming will be even harder.

The new paper, in the journal Science, focuses on what are known as mixed-phase clouds, which are found around the world and contain both cooled water and ice crystals. The balance of water and ice in clouds affects the impact that carbon dioxide levels have on atmospheric temperatures, a factor known as equilibrium climate sensitivity. A higher sensitivity would mean that carbon dioxide levels would cause more warming than previously thought.

Ocean acidification

A new study, based on the most extensive set of measurements ever made in tide pools, suggests that ocean acidification will increasingly put many marine organisms at risk by exacerbating normal changes in ocean chemistry that occur overnight.

The study shows that the most vulnerable organisms are likely to be those with calcium carbonate shells or skeletons. Ocean acidification is occurring as the oceans absorb increasing amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, where carbon dioxide concentrations are steadily rising because of emissions from the burning of fossil fuels.

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