Tropical rainforests are often called the “lungs of the planet” because they generally draw in carbon dioxide and breathe out oxygen. But the amount of carbon dioxide that rainforests absorb, or produce, varies hugely with year-to-year variations in the climate. In a paper published online this week (6th Feb 2013) by the journal Nature , a team of climate scientists from the University of Exeter, the Met Office-Hadley Centre and the NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, has shown that these variations reveal how vulnerable the rainforest is to climate change.
The Met Office has issued a yellow warning of ice for South West England, which it said is in place until Tuesday night.
Gritting crews in Devon have been out across the county to reduce the risk of ice on roads, but drivers are asked to take care.
It was reported that temperatures dropped to -3C (27F) in some parts on Sunday night. Snow is still affecting some areas, with more snowfall expected in parts of Devon later and on Tuesday.
Gritters will be out in force this evening and overnight as Devon braces itself for heavy snow.
With the Met Office issuing an amber warning, the county is facing the prospect of up to 10cm of snow. Although temperatures are forecast to drop only marginally below freezing, strong winds could create blizzard conditions from the early hours of tomorrow which may cause travel disruption during the morning rush hour.
Devon County Council’s gritters will be treating routes on higher ground in the north and east of the county as well as Dartmoor and Exmoor. Around 1,700 miles of...
According to provisional statistics gathered by the Met Office, 2012 was the second wettest year for the UK in the national record dating back to 1910.
The total annual rainfall was 1330.7 mm, which is just 6.6 mm short of the record set in 2000.
In what has been an exceptionally wet year across the UK, accurate forecasts and warnings from the Met Office have helped us all to plan, prepare and protect ourselves from the worst impacts of the extremely wet weather we have seen.
Looking at individual countries, 2012 was the wettest year on record for England, third...
Devon County Council highways crews spent a busy night dealing with problems caused by the high winds that battered the county.
Gusts reached up to 60 to 70 mph in some areas.
A tree fell on the B3181 Devon - B3181 Silver Street in Willand partially blocking the road at the B3440 Uffculme Road junction.
Another tree came down between Sandy Park and Chagford and another in Vaughan Road, Exeter.
The Met Office forecast for the rest of today is for heavy rain through the morning giving the risk of flooding, gradually clearing eastern areas by the start of the...
Forecasters say 2012 was the ninth warnest year in record.
The prediction follows provisional figures for the observed temperature in 2012, published by the Met Office and University of East Anglia.
These showed that global average temperatures in 2012 were 0.45 °C above the long term average based on data from the three international global temperature datasets used by the World Meteorological Organization and 2012 is currently ranked the 9th warmest year on record.
The global average temperature for 2012 falls well within the range predicted by the Met Office for...
