New research finds that ice in both polar regions, and especially sea ice, is disappearing at a quickening rate, while in the Arctic the last stronghold of multiyear ice is under assault from warming.
Tropical trees have shorter life spans than trees in other parts of the world, living, for example, just over half as long as temperate trees. A new analysis suggests that,…
The Arctic is setting records for low sea ice extent for this time of year, with the 2020 refreeze now 500,000+ square kilometers behind a record set in 2019 — a sign the region may be entering a new climate regime.
2020 didn’t eclipse all-time record-holder 2012, but it came pretty close; also, the Arctic’s growing heat is likely intensifying Asia’s extreme weather, while waters just beneath the ice are getting increasingly warm.
By 2070, rising soil temperatures could cause germination failure in 20% of tropical plants, and reduced rates in more than 50%, with the potential to disrupt and alter tropical ecosystems.
Temps as high as 100 degrees Fahrenheit in Siberia have triggered record Arctic sea ice melt, raging wildfires, permafrost thaw, and an Arctic oil spill.
An intensification in fires, coupled with increasing deforestation and worsening climate change, could rapidly shift the Amazon toward being a carbon source by 2050.
Global average temperatures on land and at sea in December 2019 were the second-highest recorded in the month of December since record-keeping began in 1880. That capped off a year…
The Amazon worst-case scenario has arrived, say leading researchers, as predicted signs of a shift from rainforest-to-savanna begin to be seen in real time on the ground.
MANILA — The Philippines gets hit by an average of 20 typhoons a year, according to the national weather agency. During extreme El Niño events, when the surface waters of…
As Indonesia’s forests go up in smoke, the world may be losing a lot more than we currently understand.
In a press conference yesterday, UN secretary general António Guterres announced that July 2019 was the hottest month on record. Data for the month is still being collected, but July…
June 2019 was the hottest June recorded in the 140 years since the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) began collecting global temperature data, the agency announced yesterday. Global…
Global climate change poses a severe threat to marine life, but scientists have found at least one species that appears to be successfully adapting to warmer ocean waters. A recent…
The climate crisis is bringing extreme storms, drought and temperatures to the High Plains, even as U.S. administrations from Clinton to Trump have withdrawn aid to reservations.
As the impacts of climate change become more apparent worldwide, members of the public are connecting more weather events to the phenomenon. In March and April, for example, extreme heat…
According to independent analyses of the latest global temperature data by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), 2018 was the fourth…
Scientists in Belgium have used 36 years of footage from an annual bicycle race to pinpoint the time each year when leaves and flowers appeared on trees and shrubs, allowing…
On today’s episode, renowned marine biologist Sylvia Earle joins us for an in-depth conversation about marine conservation. Listen here: Legendary oceanographer, marine biologist, and environmentalist Sylvia Earle, sometimes known…
For years, scientists have been puzzling over what exactly deforestation does to temperature. But a study published recently purports to have figured it out on the small scale. It finds…
An analysis of global temperature data by scientists with the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) found that 2017 was the second-hottest year on record since 1880 — which…
In May 2015, more than 200,000 saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica) suddenly died. Entire herds perished, their bodies littering the steppe grasslands of central Kazakhstan as if dropped from the sky.…
According to data released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association yesterday, 2017 was the third-hottest year on record in the United States. That wasn’t the only climate-related record the…
The wholesale destruction of rainforests across parts of Indonesia’s Sumatra island to make way for cash-crop plantations has not just devastated animal and plant biodiversity in the region, but may…
Summer sea ice didn’t reach its lowest extent on record in 2017, but that’s not the only measurement that matters, experts warn.
According to data released on Wednesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), July 2016 was the hottest July on record. It followed the hottest June on record and…
Heat waves could get deadlier in the near future, warns a new study published Monday in Nature Climate Change. If greenhouse gas emissions are left unchecked, waves of extreme heat…
Could this giant 3D printer stop climate change? [National Geographic] You may be familiar with this amazing technology. It is a 400-million-year-old solar-powered device that extracts CO2 from the atmosphere…
It is well understood that large-bodied species of mammals, fish, and birds are especially susceptible to steep population declines and even extinction due to environmental pressures and overhunting. But new…
Inside Central American rainforest. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Thanks to the world’s voracious appetite for crops like coffee, palm oil, rice, rubber, soy and tea, large-scale agriculture is one…
