Antarctic Temperature Spike Surprises Climate Researchers
November 23, 2009During the warm periods between recent ice ages, temperatures in Antarctica reached substantially higher levels than scientists had previously thought. (Nature News) more...
Warming's Impacts Sped up, Worsened since Kyoto
November 23, 2009Since the 1997 international accord to fight global warming, climate change has worsened and accelerated — beyond some of the grimmest of warnings made back then. (Associated Press/ABC News) more...
Water Mission Returns First Data
November 21, 2009A European satellite launched to study the Earth's water cycle returns its first data, confirming its novel instrument is working well. (BBC News) more...
Fish 'At Risk' in Acidified Ocean
November 21, 2009Fish reared in water acidified by CO2 may become "fatally attracted" to the smell of their predators, say scientists. (BBC News) more...
Climate Not Culprit of Megafauna Extinction
November 21, 2009About 15,000 years ago, some of the largest mammals in North America disappeared off the face of the Earth, and the spores of a fungus that thrived in and on those creatures' dung suggest changes in habitat didn't cause the extinctions. (Discovery News) more...
Greenland Ice Loss behind a Sixth of Sea-Level Rise
November 21, 2009The ice cap lost 1,500 cubic kilometers [360 cubic miles] of ice between 2000 and 2008, and the loss is speeding up. (New Scientist) more...
The Jellyfish Menace
November 19, 2009A silent, blobbing menace swarms the seas, thanks to overfishing, climate change and even "dead zones." (Scientific American) more...
New Fossils Reveal a World Full of Crocodiles
November 19, 2009Fossils unearthed in what is now the Sahara desert reveal a once-swampy world. (Reuters/Scientific American) more...
Winds Blow Stronger Over Warming Lake Superior
November 19, 2009Increasingly blustery weather over the lake may be changing ecosystems and spreading air pollution. (Discovery News) more...
Carbon Dioxide: Sources Outpacing Sinks
November 19, 2009Galloping increases in human fossil fuel emissions now appear to be outrunning the ability of the world's oceans to absorb them. (Discovery News) more...
Sinking Global Warming: Is There a Reliable Way to Track Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Levels?
November 18, 2009CO2 emissions rise as natural sinks slow, but how can scientists precisely track this greenhouse gas? (Scientific American) more...
Tree Ring Science and Tomorrow's Water
November 18, 2009Kevin Anchukaitis, of the tree ring lab at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, talks about the information available in tree rings, and Colin Chartres, the director general of the International Water Management Institute, talks about water issues. (Scientific American) more...
GFC Does Little to Stem Global Emissions
November 18, 2009Despite the global financial crisis, carbon emissions from fossil fuels rose 2 percent last year, leaving the Earth on a worst-scenario track for global warming, according to a new report. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation/Agence France-Presse) more...
Cloud Cover Reveals Continents
November 17, 2009The difference in cloud cover over land vs. the oceans can be so stark that outlines of the continents are revealed in space-based observations of clouds only. (Live Science) more...
Longest-Living Tree Growing Faster With Warming
November 16, 2009Bristlecone pine trees, which live for thousands of years, have been growing at a faster rate. (Discovery News) more...
Winds Blow Stronger Over Warming Lake Superior
November 16, 2009Increasingly blustery weather over the lake may be changing ecosystems and spreading air pollution. (Discovery News) more...
Paradox Lost: Molecular Collisions Kept Early Earth Warm
November 15, 20092.5 billion years ago, the sun was so faint, the oceans should have been ice; but they weren't, and now a modeling study suggests the greenhouse effect, and nitrogen explain why. (New Scientist) more...
Hawaii's Beaches Shrinking
November 15, 2009A fourth of Oahu's sandy shores have disappeared while more than half o Kauai's beaches are eroding, AP reports. The problem may get worse as seas rise, geologists say. (Live Science) more...
Record Highs Outpace Record Lows
November 15, 2009Daily record high temperatures occurred twice as often as record lows over the last decade. (Live Science) more...
Sponges Recycle Carbon to Give Life to Coral Reefs
November 14, 2009Sponges are indeed in the kingdom Animalia and, as a report from The Company of Biologists explains, they are critical to the survival of coral reefs. (Discovery News) more...
Trees in Far North Provide Biggest Climate Benefit
November 13, 2009Supposedly the most robust of the world's rain forests, the Amazon jungle suffers from "chronic malnutrition" due to a lack of salt, according to the lead scientist behind a new study. (New Scientist) more...
Northern Forests Crucial Carbon Sink
November 13, 2009High latitude forests store more carbon than tropical rainforests, making them an underappreciated player in climate change. (Discovery News) more...
Satellite Flood Prediction Could Save Lives
November 13, 2009A powerful new tool to help predict devastating floods may prevent the deaths of thousands. (Discovery News) more...
Some Trees and Insects are made for Each Other
November 13, 2009New research on the Joshua tree and its pollinators suggests that coevolution may be responsible for the wide diversity of insects and plants around the world. (Live Science) more...
Warming Drives Off Cape Cod's Namesake, Other Fish
November 12, 2009Fishermen have known for years that they've had to steam farther and farther from shore to find the cod, haddock and winter flounder that typically fill dinner plates in New England, and new federal study documenting the warming waters of the North Atlantic confirms that they're right. (ABC News/Associated Press) more...
Bubbles Shed Light on Exploding Volcanoes
November 12, 2009A study of bubbles trapped in pumice rock suggests it's a lot easier for volcanoes to erupt than we think, say Australian researchers. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) more...
Oceans Face Acid Test
November 11, 2009Ocean acidification is dramatically changing the chemistry of our oceans and affecting sea creatures like the humpback whale. Is it too late to turn the problem around? (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) more...
Antarctic Ice Loss Offsets Warming
November 11, 2009A study has found that newly-exposed areas of Antarctic sea are now soaking up some of the carbon that causes global warming. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) more...
Antarctic Ice Loss Offsets Warming
November 11, 2009A study has found that newly-exposed areas of Antarctic sea are now soaking up some of the carbon that causes global warming. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) more...
Mini Ice Age Took Hold of Europe in Months
November 11, 2009Detailed studies of ancient climate have revealed that the onset of Europe's "Big Freeze", 13,000 years ago, was anything but glacial . (New Scientist) more...
Puncturing an Ancient Supervolcano
November 10, 2009You have to wonder about the wisdom of drilling an active volcano, but at Italy's Campi Flegrei, that's exactly what scientists are planning to do, in an effort to learn about an ancient volcanic monster that could one day blow. (Discovery News) more...
The Weak Underbelly of West Antarctica?
November 10, 2009There is a dangerous PIG on the loose in West Antarctica. Yeah, I said PIG. This one could dump a whole lot of ice into the sea, raising sea levels worldwide. (Discovery News) more...
Miniature Robots to Swarm the Oceans
November 10, 2009Swarms of soup-can-sized robots will soon plunge into the ocean seeking data on poorly understood phenomena from currents to biology. (Live Science) more...
Afloat in the Ocean, Expanding Islands of Trash
November 9, 2009A garbage patch in the Pacific is one of five that may be caught in giant gyres scattered in the world's oceans. (The New York Times) more...
Alps Grow and Shrink at Same Time
November 5, 2009The European Alps are both growing and shrinking, with two dynamic processes acting against each other for a net effect of ... nothing. (Live Science) more...
Frigid Antarctica Loaded with Viruses
November 5, 2009Antarctica's icy lakes are home to a surprisingly diverse community of viruses, including some that were previously unidentified, a new study finds. (Live Science) more...
Unmanned Planes Converted to Climate Scouts
November 5, 2009In a modern-day rendition of beating swords into plowshares, a pair of unmanned military aircraft have been turned over to NASA for research on Earth's environment. (Live Science) more...
Volcanoes to Split Africa
November 4, 2009Volcanic activity may split the African continent in two and create a new ocean, according to scientists who studied two volcanic eruptions in September 2005. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation/Agence France-Presse) more...
Major Quakes Could be Aftershocks
November 4, 2009Many recent earthquakes may have been the aftershocks of large quakes that occurred hundreds of years ago, according to scientists. (BBC News) more...
Frozen, Hard to Reach, and Worth It
November 4, 2009A recent photo captured by a NASA research airplane shows a giant iceberg in the Antarctic. (Live Science) more...
Amazon's Low Salt Content Keeps Carbon Emissions at Bay
November 3, 2009All it takes is a sprinkle of salt to jump-start animal life on the Amazon forest floor—which, for better or worse, speeds up the carbon cycle, a new study says. (National Geographic News) more...
Snow Cap Disappearing From Mount Kilimanjaro
November 2, 2009Some 85 percent of the ice that made up the mountaintop glaciers in 1912 was gone by 2007, researchers report. (ABC News) more...
Species' Extinction Threat Grows
November 2, 2009More than a third of species assessed by a global biodiversity study are threatened with extinction, scientists warn. (BBC News) more...
Warming 'Big Threat' to Yosemite
November 2, 2009Wildfires within California's world famous Yosemite National Park could become more frequent and severe due to climate change, say scientists. (BBC News)
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Probe to Track Warming's Effects on Water
November 2, 2009Hoping to untangle a key mechanism by which Earth warms and cools, a new satellite will for the first time make ongoing measurements of the saltiness of Earth's seas and the water content of the land. (Discovery News) more...
Air Pressure Changes Trigger Landslides
November 2, 2009According to a new study, the daily ups and downs in air pressure -- equivalent to the weight of about half a glass of water -- are enough to get a landslide rolling. (Discovery News) more...
In the Mediterranean, Killer Tsunamis From an Ancient Eruption
November 2, 2009The massive eruption of the Thera volcano in the Aegean Sea more than 3,000 years ago produced killer waves that raced across hundreds of miles of the Eastern Mediterranean to inundate the area that is now Israel and probably other coastal sites, a team of scientists has found. (The New York Times) more...