U.S. had 2nd warmest year to date and 10th warmest July on record

July is the hallmark of summer in the United States. Long days, intense sun and high humidity typically make it the hottest month of the year. The heat can also trigger flash droughts, wildfires and summer storms. This July didn’t disappoint.

Here’s how July and the year to date fared in terms of the climate record. 

New Technique Offers Clues to Measure Ocean Deoxygenation

The living, breathing ocean may be slowly starting to suffocate. More than two percent of the ocean’s oxygen content has been depleted during the last half century, according to reports, and marine “dead zones” continue to expand throughout the global ocean. This deoxygenation, triggered mainly by more fertilizers and wastewater flowing into the ocean, pose a serious threat to marine life and ecosystems.

Yet despite the critical role of oxygen in the ocean, scientists haven’t had a way to measure how fast deoxygenation occurs—today, or in the past when so-called major “anoxic events” led to catastrophic extinction of marine life.

Incomplete Drought Recovery May Be The New Normal

The amount of time it takes for an ecosystem to recover from a drought is an important measure of a drought’s severity. During the 20th century, the total area of land affected by drought increased, and longer recovery times became more common, according to new research published by Nature by a group of scientists including Carnegie’s Anna Michalak and Yuanyuan Fang.

Super-heatwaves of 55°C to emerge if global warming continues

Heatwaves amplified by high humidity can reach above 40°C and may occur as often as every two years, leading to serious risks for human health. If global temperatures rise with 4°C, a new super heatwave of 55°C can hit regularly many parts of the world, including Europe.

Climate change may confuse plant dormancy cycles

Perennial plants in the Midwest are well attuned to their surroundings. They hunker down all winter in a dormant state, just waiting for a sign that it’s safe to unfurl their first tender leaves or flower buds. For many plants, the cue is a sustained warming trend, but day length also factors into the dormancy equation.

RAVAN CubeSat Measures Earth's Outgoing Energy

An experimental small satellite has successfully collected and delivered data on a key measurement for predicting changes in Earth’s climate.

NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP Satellite Takes a Double Look at Tropical Storm Franklin

When NASA-NOAA’s Suomi NPP satellite passed over Tropical Storm Franklin instruments aboard provided a night-time view of the storm’s clouds and measured their temperatures, revealing a strengthening storm.

The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument aboard the NASA-NOAA Suomi NPP satellite captured infrared images of Franklin on August 8 at 3:58 a.m. EDT (0758 UTC). The Suomi NPP night-time image showed that Franklin’s northwestern edge had not yet reached San Francisco de Campeche or Merida, as the lights of both cities were still visible in the image. The infrared image provided temperatures of Franklin’s cloud tops, where thunderstorms surrounding the low-level center were as cold as 190 Kelvin (minus 117.7 degrees Fahrenheit / minus 83.1 degrees Celsius). NASA research has shown that storms with cloud top temperatures that cold have the ability to generate very heavy rainfall.

There's Still Time to Prepare Yourself for the Apoceclipse

For years, the total solar eclipse of August 21—the first to be visible in the mainland United States since 1979—has been in stealth mode. With the exception of the enthusiasts who’ve been snatching up all the hotel rooms along the eclipse’s 70-mile-wide, 2,800-mile-long path from Oregon to South Carolina, nobody really knew it was coming. But in the past few months, word of this spectacular natural phenomenon has spread like wildfire, and communities across the country that will be graced by the moon’s shadow are on high alert, anticipating millions of visitors.

NASA's Smartest Satellite Is Gone. Can Private Space Replace It?

Look down on Buenos Aires from the sky, and you can learn a fair bit about the city. It's got a lot of concrete. Also a lot of trees. There's a bright green river delta to the north, which probably explains the ruddy-brown bay to the east. But with the right camera—a hyperspectral one—you can pick up a whole lot more. New colors emerge, hidden hues your eyes and mine aren't wired to see. And these colors reflect even more detail about the scene: the gases coming out of the city, the health of the plants surrounding it, the species of algae coloring the water offshore.

Biochar shows benefits as manure lagoon cover

Manure is a reality in raising farm animals. Manure can be a useful fertilizer, returning valued nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium to the soil for plant growth. But manure has problems. Odor offensiveness, gas emissions, nutrient runoff, and possible water pollution are just a few.