Canada winter warmest and driest on record: ‘It's like winter was cancelled in this country’

By Margaret Munro, Canwest News ServiceMarch 9, 2010 From the balmy Arctic, to the open water of the St. Lawrence and snowless western fields, this winter has been the warmest and driest in Canadian record books. Environment Canada scientists report that winter 2009/10 was 4C above normal, making it the warmest since nationwide records were […]

Fires rage in parched Vietnam forests – Red River at record low

By Van Phuc – Translated by Hai Mien Vietnam’s northern mountainous region has seen an outbreak of severe forest fires over the last few days, with many blazes yet to be brought under control. The central steering committee for forest protection, and fire prevention and fighting, said March 4 that persistent hot, dry weather has […]

Western Australia has hottest and driest summer on record

www.mongabay.comMarch 02, 2010 Western Australia endured its hottest summer on record, according to the state weather bureau. At 29.6°C, temperatures were 0.2°C warmer than the previous record, set in 1997-1998. Western Australia has been keeping state-wide temperature data since 1950. Perth, the state’s capital, had its driest summer since record-keeping began in 1897. Only 0.2 […]

Thirty-eight percent of world's surface in danger of desertification

ScienceDaily (Feb. 10, 2010) — Researchers have measured the degradation of the planet’s soil using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), a scientific methodology that analyses the environmental impact of human activities, and which now for the first time includes indicators on desertification. The results show that 38 percent of the world is made up of […]

'Carbon starvation' killing trees globally

By GAYATHRI VAIDYANATHAN of ClimateWirePublished: January 15, 2010 Tree death rates could increase globally because of rising temperatures and prolonged droughts linked to climate change, according to multiple studies. The reasons for tree mortality in a warmer, drier world have been narrowed down to three main scenarios — greater prevalence of insects and diseases in […]

Graph of the Day: Australia Mean Temperature Deciles, 1950-Present

2009 ends Australia’s warmest decade on record, with a decadal mean temperature anomaly of +0.48°C (above the 1961-90 average). In Australia, each decade since the 1940s has been warmer than the preceding decade. In contrast, decadal temperature variations during the first few decades of Australia’s climate record do not display any specific trend. This suggests […]

‘The Green Drought’: Floodwaters fail to stop drought's creep across New South Wales

By SAFFRON HOWDEN AND JESSICA MAHARJanuary 12, 2010 Roads remain submerged in floodwater, ghostly rivers have risen from the dead, paddocks are a sea of green, and mosquitoes are breeding like it’s the tropics. Welcome to the drought, NSW style. Despite a surge of devastating floodwaters through parts of the west and central west since […]

Pine beetles transform B.C. forests into net carbon emitters

Last year, B.C.’s forests were praised in the climate-change fight. But the pine beetle has forced the province to rethink its forest policy By Justine Hunter Victoria — From Saturday’s Globe and Mail Published on Friday, Jan. 08, 2010 7:54PM EST Last updated on Saturday, Jan. 09, 2010 4:31PM EST In a single season, an […]

Warmer climate could stifle carbon uptake by trees

  (University of Colorado at Boulder) Contrary to conventional belief, as the climate warms and growing seasons lengthen subalpine forests are likely to soak up less carbon dioxide, according to a new University of Colorado at Boulder study. As a result, more of the greenhouse gas will be left to concentrate in the atmosphere. “Our […]

Study: Climate change means greater risk of catastrophic wildfire

Tuesday, January 05 2010 @ 04:24 PM MST Leading University of Montana researchers have released results of a new study that shows climate change will increase drought stress in northern Rocky Mountain forests, leading to increased potential for insect infestations and risk of more frequent and severe wildfires. The peer-reviewed study, conducted by UM forestry […]

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