By Andrey Kuzmin, with additional reporting by Alister Doyle; Editing by Bruce Wallace and Kevin Liffey29 October 2015 MOSCOW (Reuters) – Wildfires crackled across Siberia this summer, turning skies ochre and sending up enough smoke from burning pines to blot out satellite views of the 400-mile-long Lake Baikal. To many climate scientists, the worsening fires […]
By David L. Chandler26 October 2015 (MIT News) – Within this century, parts of the Persian Gulf region could be hit with unprecedented events of deadly heat as a result of climate change, according to a study of high-resolution climate models. The research reveals details of a business-as-usual scenario for greenhouse gas emissions, but also […]
By Eric Niiler17 October 2015 (Discovery News) – Sea turtles are the ocean’s “canaries in the coal mine” when it comes to climate change, according to researchers who are trying to find out how they are adapting to a warmer climate that may be leaving baby male turtles high and dry. Recent studies have shown […]
By Andrew Freedman and Johnny Simon23 October 2015 (Mashable) – UPDATED 2:45 p.m. ET: Since this story was posted, yet another storm — Hurricane Patricia — in the eastern Pacific intensified to Category 4 status [and then, Category 5 –Des], making it 22 Category 4 and 5 storms that have formed so far this year. […]
[Long-time Desdemona readers will recall that smoke from peatland fires killed many people in Moscow in 2010. Dense wildfire smog grips Moscow in heatwave, Heat probably killed thousands in Moscow –Des] By Kate Lamb26 October 2015 (Jakarta) – Raging forest fires across Indonesia are thought to be responsible for up to half a million cases […]
By Michael Halpern23 October 2015 (UCS) – We have long been suspicious of the House Science Committee’s expanded subpoena power. The evidence now demonstrates that the committee is using this new authority not to conduct effective oversight but to harass those who produce robust scientific analysis it refuses to accept. The committee is harassing individuals, […]
By Jon Gerberg13 October 2015 (TIME) – The biggest city in the Western hemisphere is facing its greatest water crisis in over 80 years — and climate change is only part of the problem. Millions of residents in São Paulo, Brazil face daily water shutoffs unless the city manages its water better. It is not […]
By Seth Borenstein24 October 2015 WASHINGTON (AP) – Hurricane Patricia zoomed from tropical storm to record-beater in 30 hours flat like a jet-fueled sports car. Why? The Pacific storm had just the right ingredients. Plenty of warm water provided the energy what meteorologists call explosive intensification. The air was much moister than usual, adding yet […]
Guest post by Richard Pauli24 October 2015 (Desdemona Despair) – Bill Gates has a new interview on the web site of The Atlantic magazine. Many will read it because it’s Bill Gates, but I suspect he positioned himself there because of public pressure to take a stand on global warming. Bill Gates now faces growing […]
By Christopher Sherman, with additional reporting by Peter Orsi, and E. Eduardo Castillo23 October 2015 MANZANILLO, Mexico (AP) – Hurricane Patricia headed toward southwestern Mexico Friday as a monster Category 5 storm, the strongest ever in the Western Hemisphere that forecasters said could make a “potentially catastrophic landfall” later in the day. Residents of a […]
