Graph of the Day: 24-month Precipitation Surplus/Deficit for Texas

The image, from the state climatologist’s report, shows 24-month precipitation surplus/deficit expressed as standard deviations at the peak of the drought. Darkest red shows 3 standard deviations, and corresponds to the areas of record-setting drought. At that moment, (late August) San Antonio had received less than two feet of rain over the preceding two years. […]

Arctic sediments show 20th-century warming is an unnatural variation

By Staff Writers, Buffalo NY (SPX) Oct 29, 2009 The possibility that climate change might simply be a natural variation like others that have occurred throughout geologic time is dimming, according to evidence in a Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences paper. The research reveals that sediments retrieved by University at Buffalo geologists from […]

350 reasons we need to get to 350: 350 species threatened by global warming

On this site, you’ll find 350 animals and plants that could vanish due to global warming. If we can sufficiently curb greenhouse gas emissions, many of them will still have a chance to survive and recover — but we have to act now. And we have to act decisively, with a firm goal of cutting […]

Fleeing drought in the Horn of Africa

A new kind of refugee has arrived: Those forced from their home regions not by war or persecution, but by the climate. A Kenyan camp is bursting with the displaced, some of whom share their stories. By EDMUND SANDERS, October 27, 2009 DADAAB, Kenya: For centuries, Adam Abdi Ibrahim’s ancestors herded cattle and goats in […]

Saltwater intrusion threatens Australia wetlands

By Ben Cubby, October 27, 2009 AUSTRALIA must create a new, expanded network of protected wetlands around its coastline or see many bird, animal and plant species become extinct as sea levels rise, the House of Representatives report says. It recommended that the Government should urgently assess the vulnerability of Kakadu National Park to the […]

Illegal logging responsible for loss of 10 million hectares in Indonesia

By Kathy Marks, Asia-Pacific Correspondent Lush tropical rainforest once covered almost all of Indonesia’s 17,000 islands between the Indian and Pacific oceans. And just half a century ago, 80 per cent remained. But since then, rampant logging and burning has destroyed nearly half that cover, and made the country the world’s third largest emitter of […]

Australia needs national plan for rising seas

By Michael Perry SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia needs to adopt a national policy to combat rising sea levels, which may see people forced to abandon coastal homes and banned from building beachside homes, said a parliamentary climate change committee. The committee’s report said that A$150 billion ($137 billion) worth of property was at risk from […]

Graph of the Day: Retreat of Jakobshavn Glacier, 1851-2009

Jakobshavn Glacier in western Greenland has been rapidly losing ice from its terminus for more than a decade due to warm water currents reaching up the fjord. The arrow indicates direction of discharge, while the glacier retreats back towards the Greenland Ice Sheet. Another study focused on western Greenland’s Jakobshavn Isbrae responsible for draining 7 […]

36 football fields deforested each minute

By Staff Writers, Buenos Aires (AFP) Oct 22, 2009 The equivalent of 36 football fields are being stripped from the world’s forests each minute, the environmental group World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said in a statement released here on Thursday. The group, presenting its figures during a UN-organized World Forestry Congress held in the […]

NOAA: Warming of the Arctic continues to be widespread and dramatic

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer WASHINGTON — Global warming is messing with the planet’s thermostat. That warning came Thursday from Richard Spinrad, head of research at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in releasing the annual update of science’s Arctic report card [pdf]. Warming temperatures continue in the polar north, changing wind patterns, […]

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