Statewide rankings for average temperature and precipitation for September 2019 compared to each September since records began in 1895. Graphic: NOAA / NCEI

September 2019 hottest on record globally, second hottest in U.S. history – All-time record for 12-month rainfall in U.S.

5 October 2019 (Copernicus Climate Change Service) – In Europe, temperatures were above average over most of the continent, especially in the south and south-east. Below-average temperatures occurred over much of Norway and Sweden, and over the far east of the continent. Globally September 2019 was 0.57°C warmer than the average September from 1981-2010, making […]

Satellite view of Super Typhoon Hagibis as a Category 5-equivalent storm on 7 October 2019. Photo: NOAA / RAMMB

Deadly Typhoon Hagibis packed devastating punch in Japan with record rainfall totals – 2,667 bags of Fukushima waste leaked

By Andrew Freedman 14 October 2019 (The Washington Post) – Typhoon Hagibis proved to be extraordinarily devastating for northern Japan when it struck this weekend, unleashing more than three feet of rain in just 24 hours in some locations, causing widespread flash flooding as well as river flooding. The storm has killed at least 58, according […]

Global variability in nature’s contributions to people, for water quality regulation, coastal risk reduction, and crop pollination. Graphic: Chaplin-Kramer, et al., 2019 / Science

Billions face food, water shortages over next 30 years as nature fails – Study paints “a deeply worrying picture of the societal burdens of losing nature”

By Stephen Leahy 10 October 2019 (National Geographic) – As many as five billion people, particularly in Africa and South Asia, are likely to face shortages of food and clean water in the coming decades as nature declines. Hundreds of millions more could be vulnerable to increased risks of severe coastal storms, according to the first-ever model […]

Five-year average of temperature change around Zyryanka, Siberia compared with the late 1800s. Data: Berkeley Earth. Graphic: The Washington Post

Radical warming in Siberia leaves millions on unstable ground – “The permafrost is thawing so fast, we scientists can’t keep up anymore”

By Anton Troianovski and Chris Mooney 3 October 2019 ON THE ZYRYANKA RIVER, Russia (The Washington Post) – Andrey Danilov eased his motorboat onto the gravel riverbank, where the bones of a woolly mammoth lay scattered on the beach. A putrid odor filled the air — the stench of ancient plants and animals decomposing after […]

Drone video showing hundreds of blindfolded men being led from a train in China, posted anonymously on 17 September 2019. The video raises new concerns over the ongoing crackdown on Muslim Uyghurs in the far western region of Xinjiang. Video: War on Fear (战斗恐惧) / YouTube

Authoritarian advance: How authoritarian regimes upended assumptions about democratic expansion – “These regimes are turning the tools of coercion outward to push back on democracy”

By Laura Rosenberger 13 September 2019 (GMF) – Thirty years after the fall of the Berlin wall, democracies again face a struggle against authoritarianism. This is not the ideological battle of the Cold War, but it is a confrontation between systems of government. As democracies are showing cracks and as authoritarian regimes are gaining strength, […]

The Wilpinjong coal mine, located between Denman and Mudgee, Australia. Photo: Newcastle Herald

New South Wales government may open two new coal fields for exploration to boost economic growth

By Ben Butler 9 October 2019 (The Guardian) – The New South Wales government is considering opening two large coal fields to exploration as it seeks to make the state the “number one mining investment destination”, Guardian Australia has learned. The Advisory Body for Strategic Release, which controls the state’s minerals reserves, has written to […]

Global fisheries subsidy amounts by category and grouped by a) low and high HDI country groups; and b) developed and developing, for 2018 (constant USD). Graphic: Sumaila, et al., 2019 / Marine Policy

The sea is running out of fish, despite nations’ pledges to stop it – Major countries that are promising to curtail funding for fisheries are nevertheless increasing handouts for their seafood industries

By Todd Woody 8 October 2019 (National Geographic) – As global fish stocks that feed hundreds of millions of people dwindle, nations are scrambling to finalize by year’s end an international agreement to ban government subsidies that fuel overfishing. Yet as negotiations at the World Trade Organization resume this week in Geneva, Switzerland, new research shows that governments have […]

Satellite view of Super Typhoon Hagibis, 9 October 2019. Photo: Sam Lillo

Super Typhoon Hagibis threatens Tokyo — Massive typhoon could make direct hit on world’s largest metro area

By Bob Henson 9 October 2019 (Weather Underground) – The most intense Northwest Pacific storm of 2019, Super Typhoon Hagibis, is heading toward a potential encounter with the world’s largest metropolitan area, Tokyo. After a slight weakening in Tuesday (from peak winds of 160 to 155 mph), Hagibis was back at Category 5 strength on Wednesday, with […]

An expedition aboard the “Academic Mstislav Keldysh” discovered a 50-square-foot patch of bubbling methane in the East Siberian Sea Photo: Shirshov Institute of Oceanology

Russian scientists find giant methane fountains in Arctic Ocean – “This is the most powerful seep I have ever been able to observe”

By Alec Luhn 8 October 2019 MOSCOW (The Telegraph) – Russian scientists in the Arctic Ocean said they have discovered the most powerful methane gas fountain ever recorded, highlighting the danger of this greenhouse gas accelerating climate change or causing an oil or gas spill as it erupts from thawing permafrost. A research expedition from […]

Aerial view of houses inundated by monsoon floodwaters in Prayagraj, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, on 28 September 2019. Photo: Rajesh Kumar Singh

Photo gallery: Flooding in India during heaviest monsoon rainfall in 25 years

By Niha Masih 1 October 2019 NEW DELHI – People using rafts on roads, waterlogged hospitals and shops, food packets being airdropped — this is what life has been like in the northern Indian states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh after heavy rains led to large-scale flooding. India received the heaviest monsoon rainfall in 25 years, […]

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