James Rae
@mudwaterclimate.bsky.social
Climate scientist and geochemist
@UnivofStAndrews
| CO2 & ocean circulation past & present | Social & Environmental justice
@UnivofStAndrews
| CO2 & ocean circulation past & present | Social & Environmental justice
Pinned
James Rae
@mudwaterclimate.bsky.social
· Oct 10
Hey @bsky.app 👋
I’ll be posting stuff from our group on what we learn from Earth’s past climate that can help us understand where we’re heading - like the geochemical reconstructions below which show that CO2 is at its highest level in 3 million years 📈😬 www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1...
I’ll be posting stuff from our group on what we learn from Earth’s past climate that can help us understand where we’re heading - like the geochemical reconstructions below which show that CO2 is at its highest level in 3 million years 📈😬 www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1...
🚨New paper on Southern Ocean CO2🚨
Using a suite of Earth system models, Maddie Shankle et al show that better ventilation of intermediate waters in the North Pacific ends up reducing outgassing of CO2 in the Southern Ocean 🌊🧪⚒️🧵 @earthscista.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Using a suite of Earth system models, Maddie Shankle et al show that better ventilation of intermediate waters in the North Pacific ends up reducing outgassing of CO2 in the Southern Ocean 🌊🧪⚒️🧵 @earthscista.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Southern Ocean CO2 outgassing and nutrient load reduced by a well-ventilated glacial North Pacific - Nature Communications
A better-ventilated North Pacific could have reduced the carbon of water upwelled in the Southern Ocean, reducing outgassing and revealing a remote influence on Southern Ocean biogeochemistry in glaci...
www.nature.com
September 17, 2025 at 5:50 PM
🚨New paper on Southern Ocean CO2🚨
Using a suite of Earth system models, Maddie Shankle et al show that better ventilation of intermediate waters in the North Pacific ends up reducing outgassing of CO2 in the Southern Ocean 🌊🧪⚒️🧵 @earthscista.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Using a suite of Earth system models, Maddie Shankle et al show that better ventilation of intermediate waters in the North Pacific ends up reducing outgassing of CO2 in the Southern Ocean 🌊🧪⚒️🧵 @earthscista.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by James Rae
Big congratulations to @mudwaterclimate.bsky.social & team on securing funding to launch the St Andrews Global Research Centre for Changing Climates! 🌍 📈
The centre will take an interdisciplinary approach, harnessing the breadth of expertise across St Andrews
news.st-andrews.ac.uk/archive/the-...
The centre will take an interdisciplinary approach, harnessing the breadth of expertise across St Andrews
news.st-andrews.ac.uk/archive/the-...
The University of St Andrews announces two new Global Research Centres | University of St Andrews news
news.st-andrews.ac.uk
September 6, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Big congratulations to @mudwaterclimate.bsky.social & team on securing funding to launch the St Andrews Global Research Centre for Changing Climates! 🌍 📈
The centre will take an interdisciplinary approach, harnessing the breadth of expertise across St Andrews
news.st-andrews.ac.uk/archive/the-...
The centre will take an interdisciplinary approach, harnessing the breadth of expertise across St Andrews
news.st-andrews.ac.uk/archive/the-...
Reposted by James Rae
ICYM - Scientists slam Trump administration climate report as a ‘farce’ full of misinformation
- Experts say the report being used to justify the mass rollback of climate regulations has many claims based on long-debunked research
#climatecrisis
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
- Experts say the report being used to justify the mass rollback of climate regulations has many claims based on long-debunked research
#climatecrisis
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Scientists slam Trump administration climate report as a ‘farce’ full of misinformation
Experts say the report being used to justify the mass rollback of climate regulations has many claims based on long-debunked research
www.theguardian.com
August 4, 2025 at 10:05 AM
ICYM - Scientists slam Trump administration climate report as a ‘farce’ full of misinformation
- Experts say the report being used to justify the mass rollback of climate regulations has many claims based on long-debunked research
#climatecrisis
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
- Experts say the report being used to justify the mass rollback of climate regulations has many claims based on long-debunked research
#climatecrisis
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Reposted by James Rae
🚨 If you're interested in working on a coordinated response to the DOE climate report, please enter your info on this google form 🚨
Please RT this so as many people see it as possible.
forms.gle/BL9xUAfRxA...
Please RT this so as many people see it as possible.
forms.gle/BL9xUAfRxA...
DOE climate report response form
We are collecting names to assemble a writing team to respond to the DOE climate working group report. If you'd like to contribute, enter your info below. At this point, there is no guarantee what we'll do (if anything), but we want to keep our options open by collecting names. If you have any further questions, feel free to email me.
We are primarily looking for Ph.D. scientists at universities or government labs in appropriate fields. I realize that this will exclude some qualified people and I apologize, but we felt this was necessary for a variety of reasons.
forms.gle
July 31, 2025 at 6:35 PM
🚨 If you're interested in working on a coordinated response to the DOE climate report, please enter your info on this google form 🚨
Please RT this so as many people see it as possible.
forms.gle/BL9xUAfRxA...
Please RT this so as many people see it as possible.
forms.gle/BL9xUAfRxA...
Reposted by James Rae
🚨 At least 10 scientists, all cited in the Trump admin's new climate change report, told me that the report completely mischaracterizes their research.
I also found five citations with significant errors, and a paragraph missing an important citation.
I also found five citations with significant errors, and a paragraph missing an important citation.
‘A Serious Misuse of My Research’: Climate Scientists Say New Trump Energy Report Botches Their Work
“Our work has no relevance,” an astrobiologist whose research was cited in the administration’s climate change report said.
www.notus.org
July 30, 2025 at 11:46 PM
🚨 At least 10 scientists, all cited in the Trump admin's new climate change report, told me that the report completely mischaracterizes their research.
I also found five citations with significant errors, and a paragraph missing an important citation.
I also found five citations with significant errors, and a paragraph missing an important citation.
Reposted by James Rae
I've been taking some time to dive into the US EPA's Proposal to revoke the Endangerment Finding related to Greenhouse Gases.
epa.gov/system/files...
They put forth multiple lines of argument about why the current administration believes this should happen.
🧵
epa.gov/system/files...
They put forth multiple lines of argument about why the current administration believes this should happen.
🧵
epa.gov
July 31, 2025 at 10:46 AM
I've been taking some time to dive into the US EPA's Proposal to revoke the Endangerment Finding related to Greenhouse Gases.
epa.gov/system/files...
They put forth multiple lines of argument about why the current administration believes this should happen.
🧵
epa.gov/system/files...
They put forth multiple lines of argument about why the current administration believes this should happen.
🧵
Reposted by James Rae
Motherfucking wind farms…
July 30, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Motherfucking wind farms…
Reposted by James Rae
Fascinating paper 👇 not only providing evidence for ocean acidification in the end-Triassic mass extinction, but also wider discussion of the role of reverse weathering in prolonging the effects, and how this changed with the evolution of open ocean calcifying organisms. ⚒️🧪
🚨New paper just out on environmental upset at the Triassic-Jurassic boundary🚨
Using boron isotopes in fossil oysters, we find a major pulse of ocean acidification and CO2 rise, driving global warming and delaying ecosystem recovery following the end-Triassic mass extinction
rdcu.be/ev6XV
🧪🌊⚒️🐚🧵
Using boron isotopes in fossil oysters, we find a major pulse of ocean acidification and CO2 rise, driving global warming and delaying ecosystem recovery following the end-Triassic mass extinction
rdcu.be/ev6XV
🧪🌊⚒️🐚🧵
July 15, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Fascinating paper 👇 not only providing evidence for ocean acidification in the end-Triassic mass extinction, but also wider discussion of the role of reverse weathering in prolonging the effects, and how this changed with the evolution of open ocean calcifying organisms. ⚒️🧪
🚨New paper just out on environmental upset at the Triassic-Jurassic boundary🚨
Using boron isotopes in fossil oysters, we find a major pulse of ocean acidification and CO2 rise, driving global warming and delaying ecosystem recovery following the end-Triassic mass extinction
rdcu.be/ev6XV
🧪🌊⚒️🐚🧵
Using boron isotopes in fossil oysters, we find a major pulse of ocean acidification and CO2 rise, driving global warming and delaying ecosystem recovery following the end-Triassic mass extinction
rdcu.be/ev6XV
🧪🌊⚒️🐚🧵
July 15, 2025 at 3:57 AM
🚨New paper just out on environmental upset at the Triassic-Jurassic boundary🚨
Using boron isotopes in fossil oysters, we find a major pulse of ocean acidification and CO2 rise, driving global warming and delaying ecosystem recovery following the end-Triassic mass extinction
rdcu.be/ev6XV
🧪🌊⚒️🐚🧵
Using boron isotopes in fossil oysters, we find a major pulse of ocean acidification and CO2 rise, driving global warming and delaying ecosystem recovery following the end-Triassic mass extinction
rdcu.be/ev6XV
🧪🌊⚒️🐚🧵
Super excited to share our latest on CO2’s role in geological climate change! Using boron isotopes in ~300 million year old brachiopod shells, we show that rising CO2 from volcanic emissions drove a profound change in climate that ended the Late Palaeozoic Ice Age ⚒️🧪🌊 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Rapid rise in atmospheric CO2 marked the end of the Late Palaeozoic Ice Age - Nature Geoscience
A pronounced increase in atmospheric CO2 coincided with warming at the end of the Late Palaeozoic Ice Age, according to an 80-million-year-long boron isotope CO2 proxy record.
www.nature.com
January 6, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Super excited to share our latest on CO2’s role in geological climate change! Using boron isotopes in ~300 million year old brachiopod shells, we show that rising CO2 from volcanic emissions drove a profound change in climate that ended the Late Palaeozoic Ice Age ⚒️🧪🌊 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by James Rae
England has second worst harvest on record with fears mounting for 2025
Data released shows England experienced it’s second worst harvest since 1983 after record breaking wet weather last winter, with recent downpours leaving many farmers unable to drill crops again.
Data released shows England experienced it’s second worst harvest since 1983 after record breaking wet weather last winter, with recent downpours leaving many farmers unable to drill crops again.
Confirmed: England has second worst harvest on record with fears…
Data released shows England experienced it’s second worst harvest since 1983 after record breaking wet weather last winter, with recent downpours leaving many farmers unable to drill crops again
buff.ly
December 12, 2024 at 10:45 AM
England has second worst harvest on record with fears mounting for 2025
Data released shows England experienced it’s second worst harvest since 1983 after record breaking wet weather last winter, with recent downpours leaving many farmers unable to drill crops again.
Data released shows England experienced it’s second worst harvest since 1983 after record breaking wet weather last winter, with recent downpours leaving many farmers unable to drill crops again.
Nice thing about an 0830 sunrise is it’s easier to enjoy! Absolute beauty in St Andrews this morning.
December 12, 2024 at 11:02 AM
Nice thing about an 0830 sunrise is it’s easier to enjoy! Absolute beauty in St Andrews this morning.
Today my amazing colleague, lab mate, and partner @oceanicandrea.bsky.social officially became the first female Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences @uniofstandrews.bsky.social.
Let’s make sure it doesn’t take another 611 years to get the next
⚒️🧪🌊👩🏻🔬
Let’s make sure it doesn’t take another 611 years to get the next
⚒️🧪🌊👩🏻🔬
December 3, 2024 at 3:13 PM
Today my amazing colleague, lab mate, and partner @oceanicandrea.bsky.social officially became the first female Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences @uniofstandrews.bsky.social.
Let’s make sure it doesn’t take another 611 years to get the next
⚒️🧪🌊👩🏻🔬
Let’s make sure it doesn’t take another 611 years to get the next
⚒️🧪🌊👩🏻🔬
Reposted by James Rae
We all think plastic pollution is a problem, and it is. In the nearly 70 years between 1950 and 2019, the world produced a total of ~9.5 billion tonnes of plastic.
But all the plastic we have EVER produced weighs as much as CO₂ we emitted into the atmosphere during the first three months of 2024!
But all the plastic we have EVER produced weighs as much as CO₂ we emitted into the atmosphere during the first three months of 2024!
November 29, 2024 at 6:44 PM
We all think plastic pollution is a problem, and it is. In the nearly 70 years between 1950 and 2019, the world produced a total of ~9.5 billion tonnes of plastic.
But all the plastic we have EVER produced weighs as much as CO₂ we emitted into the atmosphere during the first three months of 2024!
But all the plastic we have EVER produced weighs as much as CO₂ we emitted into the atmosphere during the first three months of 2024!
November 23, 2024 at 8:08 AM
Reposted by James Rae
Net zero emission means that CO₂ emissions are offset by removals, but what should count as CO₂ removal?
This new study argues that countries should not count natural carbon sinks (like the ocean and forests) in their net zero emission targets.
This new study argues that countries should not count natural carbon sinks (like the ocean and forests) in their net zero emission targets.
Geological Net Zero and the need for disaggregated accounting for carbon sinks - Nature
Nature - Geological Net Zero and the need for disaggregated accounting for carbon sinks
www.nature.com
November 18, 2024 at 8:34 PM
Net zero emission means that CO₂ emissions are offset by removals, but what should count as CO₂ removal?
This new study argues that countries should not count natural carbon sinks (like the ocean and forests) in their net zero emission targets.
This new study argues that countries should not count natural carbon sinks (like the ocean and forests) in their net zero emission targets.
Reposted by James Rae
I wrote this on 1.5°C eight years ago
"Depending on climate sensitivity and natural variability, we could conceivably see the first year above 1.5°C as early as the late 2020s – but it is more likely to be later"
It's looking like I was a bit too optimistic 🧵
theconversation.com/what-will-th...
"Depending on climate sensitivity and natural variability, we could conceivably see the first year above 1.5°C as early as the late 2020s – but it is more likely to be later"
It's looking like I was a bit too optimistic 🧵
theconversation.com/what-will-th...
What will the world actually look like at 1.5°C of warming?
By the time we hit that temperature, further climate changes will already be locked in and unavoidable.
theconversation.com
November 16, 2024 at 4:55 PM
I wrote this on 1.5°C eight years ago
"Depending on climate sensitivity and natural variability, we could conceivably see the first year above 1.5°C as early as the late 2020s – but it is more likely to be later"
It's looking like I was a bit too optimistic 🧵
theconversation.com/what-will-th...
"Depending on climate sensitivity and natural variability, we could conceivably see the first year above 1.5°C as early as the late 2020s – but it is more likely to be later"
It's looking like I was a bit too optimistic 🧵
theconversation.com/what-will-th...
Major fanboy moment last night meeting Octopus founder and CEO and all round energy transition champion Greg Jackson! Super fun chat on CO2 and climate.
NB - thanks to Octopus flexible tariff I can fill up the 280 miles range on my Kia for £4.50!!!
(And I obvs told him to get onto Bluesky) 🐙 ⚡️🔌🚗
NB - thanks to Octopus flexible tariff I can fill up the 280 miles range on my Kia for £4.50!!!
(And I obvs told him to get onto Bluesky) 🐙 ⚡️🔌🚗
November 16, 2024 at 1:02 PM
Major fanboy moment last night meeting Octopus founder and CEO and all round energy transition champion Greg Jackson! Super fun chat on CO2 and climate.
NB - thanks to Octopus flexible tariff I can fill up the 280 miles range on my Kia for £4.50!!!
(And I obvs told him to get onto Bluesky) 🐙 ⚡️🔌🚗
NB - thanks to Octopus flexible tariff I can fill up the 280 miles range on my Kia for £4.50!!!
(And I obvs told him to get onto Bluesky) 🐙 ⚡️🔌🚗
Hello new followers! Lovely to have you over here. I tend to post on how past climates help us understand where we’re heading, including changes in ocean circulation, acidity, sea level, and CO2, as shown below. 🌊⚒️🧪🐚📈
Hey @bsky.app 👋
I’ll be posting stuff from our group on what we learn from Earth’s past climate that can help us understand where we’re heading - like the geochemical reconstructions below which show that CO2 is at its highest level in 3 million years 📈😬 www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1...
I’ll be posting stuff from our group on what we learn from Earth’s past climate that can help us understand where we’re heading - like the geochemical reconstructions below which show that CO2 is at its highest level in 3 million years 📈😬 www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1...
November 14, 2024 at 6:20 AM
Hello new followers! Lovely to have you over here. I tend to post on how past climates help us understand where we’re heading, including changes in ocean circulation, acidity, sea level, and CO2, as shown below. 🌊⚒️🧪🐚📈
Reposted by James Rae
Repost this if you’re old enough to remember when they tried to convince us that “global warming stopped in 2008” (or whenever).
November 11, 2024 at 5:12 PM
Repost this if you’re old enough to remember when they tried to convince us that “global warming stopped in 2008” (or whenever).
Nice nerdy contribution for geochemistry peeps - we use a new sequential leaching method to get accurate carbonate d11B from mixed matrix samples, demonstrated by getting true d11B from a coral, even when we filled the sample with clay! 🧪🌊⚒️ agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
October 25, 2024 at 11:23 AM
Nice nerdy contribution for geochemistry peeps - we use a new sequential leaching method to get accurate carbonate d11B from mixed matrix samples, demonstrated by getting true d11B from a coral, even when we filled the sample with clay! 🧪🌊⚒️ agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
Absolute scenes in Cellardyke!
October 10, 2024 at 11:29 PM
Absolute scenes in Cellardyke!
Northern lights over Scotland tonight - this is from outside our house in Cellardyke
October 10, 2024 at 9:46 PM
Northern lights over Scotland tonight - this is from outside our house in Cellardyke
Reposted by James Rae
New rapid attribution by Mike Wehner and colleagues at LBL shows that climate change increased Hurricane Helene's rainfall by up to 50% in some parts of Georgia and the Carolinas, and made the event up to 20x more likely.
Read: drive.google.com/file/d/14oq6...
Read: drive.google.com/file/d/14oq6...
October 1, 2024 at 3:16 PM
New rapid attribution by Mike Wehner and colleagues at LBL shows that climate change increased Hurricane Helene's rainfall by up to 50% in some parts of Georgia and the Carolinas, and made the event up to 20x more likely.
Read: drive.google.com/file/d/14oq6...
Read: drive.google.com/file/d/14oq6...
Reposted by James Rae
🥳The last British coal power plants closes on October 1st 2024. In 2012, coal provided 40% of power, now 0%!
Coal has been replaced by windpower, solar power and electricity savings, not fossil gas which has decreased since 2000.
ember-climate.org/insights/res...
Coal has been replaced by windpower, solar power and electricity savings, not fossil gas which has decreased since 2000.
ember-climate.org/insights/res...
The UK’s journey to a coal power phase-out
The UK’s era of coal-free power begins on the 1st October 2024, after a rapid 12-year decline which has seen power sector emissions plummet by three quarters.
ember-climate.org
September 20, 2024 at 8:30 AM
🥳The last British coal power plants closes on October 1st 2024. In 2012, coal provided 40% of power, now 0%!
Coal has been replaced by windpower, solar power and electricity savings, not fossil gas which has decreased since 2000.
ember-climate.org/insights/res...
Coal has been replaced by windpower, solar power and electricity savings, not fossil gas which has decreased since 2000.
ember-climate.org/insights/res...