Meeting society’s growing energy needs has become a daunting challenge for humanity. Demands for energy are expected to nearly double by the year 2050, while the effects of climate change, caused by the burning of fossil fuels, are already wreaking havoc in the form of droughts, wildfires, floods and other disasters.

Multiple large and destructive tsunamis in the past few decades in the Indian Ocean (2004), Chile (2010), and Japan (2011) have underscored the threat that tsunamis pose to coastal regions, ushering in a new era of research aimed at better predicting areas threatened by the fast-developing natural disasters.

Human-caused climate change — including increased extreme weather and climate events — is here, according to the recently released United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2021 report, but the best way to communicate the concern is still debated.

International and Saudi researchers have discovered archaeological sites in the Nefud Desert of Saudi Arabia associated with the remains of ancient lakes formed when periods of increased rainfall transformed the region into grassland. 

The speed at which deadwood decomposes in forests depends on the climate as well as on fungi and insects. 

Warming oceans have driven the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale population from its traditional and protected habitat, exposing the animals to more lethal ship strikes, disastrous commercial fishing entanglements and greatly reduced calving rates.

Earlier this month, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its latest assessment report laying out the accumulating evidence of the climate crisis.

Three days after Hurricane Ida, many people in Louisiana are going without electric power due to downed power lines and damaged transmission towers.

From droughts to floods, climate change impacts food security around the world. Satellite data helps programs like SERVIR respond to these challenges.

City dwellers seldom experience the near-reverence of watching deer walk through their yards, both for a lack of deer and, often, a lack of a yard. In cities, not everyone has the same experiences with nature.