Pioneering new research has given a fresh insight into the crucial role that sea spray plays in climate change.

Sea spray, which is produced in abundance across all the world’s oceans, is one of the greatest sources of atmospheric aerosols - tiny particles that not only scatter and absorb sunlight but also influence climate indirectly through their role in cloud formation.

Understanding how these particles take up water from the atmosphere, a process known as hygroscopicity, is important because it determines how much sunlight they reflect and how well they can form clouds.

Harvard University researchers have resolved a conflict in estimates of how much the Earth will warm in response to a doubling of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.  That conflict — between temperature ranges based on global climate models and paleoclimate records and ranges generated from historical observations — prevented the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) from providing a best estimate in its most recent report for how much the Earth will warm as a result of a doubling of CO2 emissions.

NASA satellites gave the Eastern Pacific Ocean's Hurricane Eugene an "eye exam" as it studied the storm in infrared and visible light. NASA satellite imagery taken at different times showed Eugene's eye open and closed.

Improving projections for how much ocean levels may change in the future and what that means for coastal communities has vexed researchers studying sea level rise for years, but a new international study that incorporates extreme events may have just given researchers and coastal planners what they need.

The study, published today in Nature Communications  uses newly available data and advanced models to improve global predictions when it comes to extreme sea levels. The results suggest that extreme sea levels will likely occur more frequently than previously predicted, particularly in the west coast regions of the U.S. and in large parts of Europe and Australia.

NASA satellite imagery revealed that Tropical Depression 4 appears to be losing its punch, and the National Hurricane Center expects the storm to weaken.

On July 7, 2017, at 11:30 a.m. EDT (1530 UTC), the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, or MODIS, instrument aboard NASA's Terra satellite captured a visible image of Tropical Depression 4 as it continued moving through the north Central Atlantic Ocean. The image showed that the depression consisting of a possible circulation center embedded within a very small area of intermittent convection. The MODIS image does not show much organization.

"Now I know mosses have a whole secret world,” says Jean, a University of Saskatchewan biology PhD student. “It’s like discovering a mini forest in the forest.” 

Not just pretty, mosses contribute up to 30 per cent of Canada’s boreal forest total growth every year, while maintaining the organic floor necessary for evergreens to grow. 

If it’s all in the timing, then climate change may spell problems for bees. Scientists have found that global warming may cause temporal mismatches between bees and the plant species on which they depend for food.

Among the places expected to be most hard-hit by sea level rise in the coming century or two are the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean, ranging from sparsely developed archipelagos in Micronesia to heavily populated coastal areas on the Hawaiian Islands, such as Honolulu. 

If there is anywhere for carbon dioxide to disappear in large quantities from the atmosphere, it is into the Earth’s oceans. There, huge populations of plankton can soak up carbon dioxide from surface waters and gobble it up as a part of photosynthesis, generating energy for their livelihood. When plankton die, they sink thousands of feet, taking with them the carbon that was once in the atmosphere, and stashing it in the deep ocean.

Researchers have called for health professionals and climate forecasters to work more closely together ahead of extreme weather events and gradual climate change to help prevent the spread of infections.