By Brad Plumer14 November 2013 (Washington Post) – From a new study in the journal Science: the first effort to quantify in detail how forests are changing and disappearing over the past decade. The research team, led by the University of Maryland, used Landsat satellite images and Google’s Earth Engine to assemble detailed new maps. […]
By Nina Chestney; Editing by Louise Heavens18 November 2013 WARSAW (Reuters) – Global economic losses caused by extreme weather events have risen to nearly $200 billion a year over the last decade and look set to increase further as climate change worsens, a report by the World Bank showed on Monday. A United Nations’ panel […]
By Miles Grant13 November 2013 (NWF) – Rising temperatures, deeper droughts and more extreme weather events fueled by manmade climate change are making survival more challenging for America’s treasured big game wildlife from coast to coast, according to a new report from the National Wildlife Federation. Nowhere to Run: Big Game Wildlife in a Warming […]
By Rhett A. Butler 8 November 2013 (mongabay.com) – Complete deforestation of the Amazon rainforest could reduce rainfall in the Pacific Northwest by up to 20 percent and snowpack in the Sierra Nevada by up to 50 percent, suggests new research published in the Journal of Climate. The study is based on high resolution computer […]
By Alex Kirby, Climate News Network27 October 2013 LONDON (Climate Central) – Researchers say the southern part of the Amazon rainforest is at a far higher risk of dieback than the models used in the most recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The research team, led by Professor Rong Fu of […]
By Rick Feneley and Judith Whelan21 October 2013 (Sydney Morning Herald) – Hundreds of thousands of people face a growing bushfire calamity, with the entire Blue Mountains area as well as Penrith and Richmond in danger of burning over the next few days. Premier Barry O’Farrell on Sunday took the extraordinary step of declaring a […]
[NSW bushfires: live updates] 20 October 2013 (BBC News) – A state of emergency has been declared in New South Wales as Australian firefighters battle bushfires that have already destroyed more than 200 homes. The announcement comes as conditions look set to deteriorate with soaring temperatures and strong winds expected to fan the flames in […]
By Sarah Griffiths17 October 2013 (Daily Mail) – From chipmunks to Mediterranean spiders, animals are evolving to cope with the effects of hotter temperatures, a scientist has claimed. DNA evidence suggests the European wasp spider is evolving into a new form and is moving to cooler regions to set up home in parts of northern […]
17 October 2013 (Canberra Times) – Hundreds of homes may have been lost in Thursday’s fires, the worst in more than 10 years, said the Premier Barry O’Farrell. “It’s suspected that by the time we’ve finished counting it [the loss of homes] will at least be in the hundreds,” he said. It would take days […]
By Matt McGrath, Environment correspondent13 October 2013 (BBC News) – Scientists say they are more certain than ever about the impact of global warming on a critical weather pattern. The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) occurs in the Pacific Ocean but plays an important part in the world’s climate system. Researchers have until now been unsure […]
