Image of the Day: Satellite view of thick smoke from wildfires over Wyoming, 14 August 2012

Wildfires in California, Oregon, Idaho, and Nevada sent smoke over large stretches of the United States in mid-August 2012. Particularly thick smoke collected over Wyoming on August 14, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this natural-color image. Smoke filled the skies over most of the state; over the south-central […]

Super Typhoon Bolaven bears down on Okinawa, Typhoon Tembin to follow

By John Kraft  25 August 2012 Super Typhoon Bolaven now has sustained winds of 146 mph and gusts to 188 mph. It is expected to hammer down on the small island of Okinawa, Japan where 7 U.S. military installations have almost 50,000 military, family members, civilians and contractors await the impending storm. The center of […]

Western North America drought is worst in 800 years, study says

Media ContactsNAU Office of Public Affairs: opaffairs@nau.edu or +1 928.523.2282 Christopher Schwalm: +1 928.523.8413NSIDC Press Office: natasha.vizcarra@nsidc.org or +1 303.492.149730 July 2012 A new scientific study indicates the turn-of-the-century drought in the North American West was the worst of the last millennium—with major impacts to the carbon cycle and hints of even drier times ahead. […]

Graph of the Day: Global Groundwater Extraction Footprints of Aquifers

Aquifers are major groundwater basins with recharge of >2 mm yr−1 in the global inventory of groundwater resources20 (see Supplementary Information). At the bottom of this figure, the areas of the six aquifers (Western Mexico, High Plains, North Arabian, Persian, Upper Ganges and North China plain) are shown at the same scale as the global map; the […]

High price of corn forcing U.S. farmers to feed candy to livestock

By Robert Bradfield, with photojournalist Jason Thomason13 August 2012 MAYFIELD, Kentucky – At Mayfield’s United Livestock Commodities, owner Joseph Watson is tweaking the recipe for success. “Just to be able to survive, we have to look at other sources for nutrition,” he said. His 1,400 cattle are no longer feeding off corn. The prices, Watson […]

Drought worsens in Plains despite cooler temperatures, holds steady elsewhere in U.S.

By Jim Suhr, AP Business Writer23 August 2012 ST. LOUIS (AP) – While other corn growers already have knocked down their drought-ravaged crops to feed them to livestock, Nebraska farmer Doug Nelson still waits for his maize to mature, well aware it won’t be a banner year. On the day a new report suggested the […]

Arctic sea ice levels to reach record low within days

By John Vidal, environment editor, www.guardian.co.uk23 August 2012 Arctic sea ice is set to reach its lowest ever recorded extent as early as this weekend, in “dramatic changes” signalling that man-made global warming is having a major impact on the polar region. With the melt happening at an unprecedented rate of more than 100,000 sq […]

‘Alarming’ climate change threatens the future of many bat species

By Matt Walker, Editor, BBC Nature24 August 2012 Climate change threatens the future of a significant number of bat species. Bats have already suffered due to changing temperatures, according to a study published in Mammal Review. That change is “alarming” say the report’s authors, but worse is expected as temperatures rise further. The foraging and […]

Warnings sounded as typhoons near

By Wang Qian in Beijing and Sun Li in Fuzhou 24 August 2012 (China Daily) – Taiwan, coastal mainland provinces brace for Tembin as massive storm gains strength near cross-Straits area China’s national meteorological authority on Thursday issued a warning about Tembin, the 14th typhoon of the year, as it approaches southeastern Taiwan. The violent […]

Climate scientist Michael Mann plans libel suit against the National Review

By Dan Satterfield22 July 2012 I am amazed at how political beliefs can lead people to say and do really ignorant things. I had a comment this week from someone who complained that it was nearly impossible to get information about climate change from a non political source, and he has a real point. It’s […]

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