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Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

FROM VOLUME 8, NUMBER 10, OCTOBER 1995

PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS...
OF GENERAL INTEREST: TREND ANALYSES

Item #d95oct8

"Trends in High-Frequency Climate Variability in the Twentieth Century," T.R. Karl (NCDC, NOAA, 151 Patton Ave., Asheville NC 28801), R.W. Knight, N. Plummer, Nature, 377(6546), 217-220, Sep. 21, 1995.

Climate simulations incorporating increased greenhouse-gas concentrations indicate that a warmer climate could result in a decrease in high-frequency temperature variability and an increase in the proportion of precipitation occurring in extreme events. This study analyzed temperature and precipitation data over the past 30 to 80 years from hundreds of sites in Australia, China, the former Soviet Union and the U.S. Day-to-day temperature variability is seen to have decreased in the Northern Hemisphere, and (at least in the U.S.) the proportion of precipitation contributed by extreme, one-day events has increased.

Item #d95oct9

"Decline in Atmospheric Carbon Monoxide Raises Questions About Its Cause," M.A.K. Khalil (Global Change Res. Ctr., Oregon Graduate Inst., Beaverton OR 97006), Eos, 76(36), 353-354, Sep. 5, 1995.

Following a sharp increase in the 1980s, probably due to a rise in anthropogenic sources, atmospheric concentrations of carbon monoxide (CO) are now declining. This recent trend is also probably a result of human activities, and may reflect a slowdown in biomass burning. Theories explaining trends in CO are briefly summarized. Should CO increase, atmospheric levels of the hydroxyl radical could be reduced, compromising the ability of the atmosphere to remove pollutants such as CFCs.