• NASA Sees Tropical Cyclone Cook Strongly Affected by Wind Shear

    NASA's Aqua satellite observed how strong wind shear was literally pushing Tropical Cyclone Cook apart as it displaced the bulk of clouds to the southeast of the center.    

    NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Cook on April 11 at 0305 UTC (11:05 p.m. EST) and captured a visible and infrared image of the storm. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument took a visible image of the storm. The image showed that strong vertical wind shear had pushed the bulk of clouds and thunderstorms southeast of the center of circulation.

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  • Huge permafrost thaw can be limited by ambitious climate targets

    Global warming will thaw about 20% more permafrost than previously thought, scientists have warned; potentially releasing significant amounts of greenhouse gases into the Earth’s atmosphere.

    A new international research study, including climate change experts from the University of Leeds, University of Exeter and the Met Office, reveals that permafrost is more sensitive to the effects of global warming than previously thought.

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  • Assessing the impact of climate risks on the financial system

    In the wake of 2015 Climate Paris Agreements to limit global temperature below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, many governmental and private stakeholders have advocated for the introduction of policies to mitigate climate change. This would affect directly only the fossil-fuel and utility sector, but it would also expose indirectly many other economic sectors, in particular the energy-intensive sectors. The financial system can be affected due to its exposure to firms in the form of equity shares, bonds holdings and loans. However, the impact of climate policies on the financial system has remained unclear so far.

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  • First Oceans May Have Been Acidic

    One way to understand how ocean acidity can change, for example, in response to rising carbon dioxide (CO2) levels, is to look to the history of seawater acidity. Dr. Itay Halevy of the Weizmann Institute of Science has looked to the distant past – all the way back to Earth’s earliest oceans. The model he developed, together with Dr. Aviv Bachan of Stanford University, suggests that the early oceans, right around the time that life originated, were somewhat acidic, and that they gradually became alkaline. The study, published in Science, sheds light on how past ocean acid levels were controlled by CO2in the atmosphere, an important process for understanding the effects of climate change.

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  • Wildfire experts predict large, high-intensity forest fires will increase

    When it comes to large, high-intensity forest fires, we can expect to see a lot more in the coming years, according to South Dakota State University professor Mark Cochrane, a senior scientist at the Geospatial Sciences Center of Excellence.

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  • North America's freshwater lakes are getting saltier

    North America's freshwater lakes are getting saltier due to development and exposure to road salt. A study of 371 lakes published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports that many Midwestern and Northeastern lakes are experiencing increasing chloride trends, with some 44% of lakes sampled in these regions undergoing long-term salinization.

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  • Greenhouse gas effect caused by mangrove forest conversion is quite significant

    Clear-cutting of tropical mangrove forests to create shrimp ponds and cattle pastures contributes significantly to the greenhouse gas effect, one of the leading causes of global warming, new research suggests.

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  • Study: Warm Atlantic waters contribute to sea ice decline

    A University of Alaska Fairbanks study has determined that warmer water migrating from the Atlantic Ocean is a surprisingly powerful contributor to Arctic sea ice decline.

    Research led by Igor Polyakov, a professor at UAF’s International Arctic Research Center and College of Natural Science and Mathematics, has found that Atlantic currents contribute to sea ice loss in the Arctic Ocean at a rate comparable to warming air temperatures.

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  • Turtles Die in Southern California Lake Following Drought and Fire

    Almost all of the turtles living in a southern California lake died following a large fire and years of drought, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey report published in the journal Knowledge and Management of Aquatic Ecosystems.

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  • U.S. had 2nd warmest year to date and 9th warmest March on record

    As a transition between winter and spring in the U.S., March is the kind of month where just about any type of weather can happen. Coming off a very warm February 2017, many of us were tricked into thinking spring had arrived. However, an Arctic plunge of frigid air plowed into the nation’s midsection in mid-March, dashing hopes of an early spring and freezing plants as far south as Florida. 

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