Greenland glacier melting faster than expected – Two consecutive years of record losses

Contact: Amy Stone, Media Relations Officer, on 0114 2221046 17 August 2011 A key glacier in Greenland is melting faster than previously expected, according to findings by a team of academics, including Dr Edward Hanna from University of Sheffield. Dr Hanna, from the University of Sheffield’s Department of Geography, was part of a team of […]

Texas crops wilt amid drought – Record 251 counties have outdoor burn bans – More drought predicted for next year

By Lara K. Richards23 August 2011 The sweltering heat and crushing drought have taken North Texas captive, drying up hope for a fall wheat crop. Stan Bevers, management economist and extension professor with Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Vernon, said lack of rainfall coupled with days and days of triple-digit heat have taken […]

Top climate scientist vindicated by NSF investigation

By Joe Romm 22 August 2011 Two things we know with extremely high confidence: Recent warming is unprecedented in magnitude and speed and cause (so the temperature history looks like a Hockey Stick). Michael Mann, the lead author on the original Hockey Stick paper, is one of the nation’s top climatologists and a source of […]

Vietnam rice bowl threatened by rising seas – Climate change turning rivers of Mekong Delta salty

By Kit Gillet in Ben Tre, Vietnam, www.guardian.co.uk 21 August 2011 Sitting amid buckets of rice in the market, Nguyen Thi Lim Lien issues a warning she desperately hopes the world will hear: climate change is turning the rivers of the Mekong Delta salty. “The government tells us that there are three grams of salt […]

Graph of the Day: Drought across the United States, July 2011

Caption by Holli Riebeek11 August 2011 More of the United States was in exceptional drought in July 2011 than in any other month in the past 12 years, according to the National Climatic Data Center. The worst of the drought is spread across Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and parts of Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, and Louisiana. […]

Warnings of Africa drought came early from climate scientists – ‘No one can say that we didn’t know’

By Joe DeCapua17 August 2011 Experts say there was plenty of warning that the Horn of Africa was likely to experience severe drought. Nevertheless, millions of people are now at risk. Scientific experts have been saying for years that the Horn of Africa was vulnerable. The warning came with recommendations to prevent drought or lessen […]

U.S. ties 2008 record for billion-dollar weather disasters – Bulk of hurricane season still ahead

By Jane Sutton; Editing by Cynthia Osterman17 August 2011 MIAMI (Reuters) – The United States has already tied its yearly record for billion-dollar weather disasters and the cumulative tab from floods, tornadoes and heat waves has hit $35 billion, the National Weather Service said on Wednesday. And it’s only August, with the bulk of the […]

The great oyster crash – ‘I’m afraid the ocean will be dead long before we have to worry about the other implications of global warming’

By Eric Scigliano18 August 2011 In the summer of 2007, something strange and troubling happened at the Whiskey Creek Shellfish Hatchery on Netarts Bay in Oregon, which raises oyster larvae for shellfish growers from Mexico to Canada. The hatchery’s “seed,” as the oyster larvae are called, began dying by the millions, for no apparent reason. […]

‘Exceptional’ Oklahoma drought has killed 16, burned 250 million acres, and broken 1,400 water mains

By Michael CrossAugust 16, 2011 from KOSU It’s been so hot and dry this summer that climatologists say the southern part of the United States is going through an “exceptional drought.” Parts of Oklahoma have seen little rain since October — not to mention a string of 100-degree days. The steamy conditions are pressuring the […]

U.S. cities prepare to adapt to climate change – ‘Sea-level rise is inexorable’

By Wendy Koch, USA TODAY; with Elizabeth Weise16 August 2011 In Chula Vista, Calif., new waterfront buildings will be required to have higher foundations because of an expected rise in sea levels. In Chicago, where flooding is predicted to worsen, residents can get rebates for putting rain barrels, compost bins and native plants in their […]

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