Graph of the Day: Global Temperature Anomalies, June 2010

The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for June 2010 was the warmest on record at 16.2°C (61.1°F), which is 0.68°C (1.22°F) above the 20th century average of 15.5°C (59.9°F). The previous record for June was set in 2005. June 2010 was the fourth consecutive warmest month on record (March, April, and May […]

Indian Ocean levels rising, study shows

  Boulder, Colo. (UPI) Jul 15, 2010 – Indian Ocean sea levels are rising unevenly, posing a threat to residents in some densely populated coastal areas and islands, a new study says. The study, led by researchers at the University of Colorado in Boulder and the National Center for Atmospheric Research, attributes the sea-level rise […]

Salty water, parched earth: Vietnam’s Mekong paddies dry up

By Staff WritersQue Dien, Vietnam (AFP) July 14, 2010 The rivers that should nourish his thirsty rice paddies are too salty, and the rains are late this year. Dang Roi does not know if he will be able to salvage anything from this spring’s crop. Vietnam is the world’s second-biggest rice exporter and the Mekong […]

China's wars, rebellions driven by climate: study

Decadal means of temperature of (a) the whole of China, (b) frequencies of droughts, (c) floods, (d) internal wars, (e) external aggression wars, (f) all wars, (g) locust plagues and (h) rice price in China during AD 10–1990. Dynastic periods are defined by following Chen (1939) as: A, Han (206 BC–AD 220); B, Three Kingdoms […]

Sea levels rising in parts of Indian Ocean

Contact: Weiqing HanWeiqing.Han@colorado.edu303-735-3079University of Colorado at Boulder Newly detected rising sea levels in parts of the Indian Ocean, including the coastlines of the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea, Sri Lanka, Sumatra and Java, appear to be at least partly a result of human-induced increases of atmospheric greenhouse gases, says a study led by the […]

UN warns biodiversity loss poses greater business risk than climate change

PricewaterhouseCoopers claims UK firms are “biting the hand that feeds” through negligent approach to ecosystem services By James Murray, BusinessGreen, 13 Jul 2010 The threat to businesses arising from unchecked biodiversity loss is larger and more immediate than that presented by climate change. That is the stark conclusion of a long-anticipated UN-backed report to be […]

For Hudson Bay polar bears, the end is already in sight

The polar bear has long been a symbol of the damage wrought by global warming, but now biologist Andrew Derocher and his colleagues have calculated how long one southerly population can hold out. Their answer? No more than a few decades, as the bears’ decline closely tracks that of the Arctic’s disappearing sea ice. No […]

Amazon storm killed half a billion trees in two days

  By Stephen Messenger, Porto Alegre, Brazil on 07.12.10 If you thought unscrupulous logging practices were the only threat to the world’s largest rainforest, then think again. According to a new study, one extremely powerful storm in 2005 resulted in the deaths of an estimated 441 million to 663 million trees along the Amazon basin […]

Rising sea drives Panama islanders to mainland

By Sean Mattson; editing by Catherine Bremer  CARTI SUGDUB, Panama, June 12 (Reuters) – Rising seas from global warming, coming after years of coral reef destruction, are forcing thousands of indigenous Panamanians to leave their ancestral homes on low-lying Caribbean islands. Seasonal winds, storms and high tides combine to submerge the tiny islands, crowded with […]

Worst drought in a decade destroys millions of hectares of Russian crops

By Maria Kolesnikova; editors: John Deane, Alastair Reed  July 12 (Bloomberg) — Russia’s worst drought in a decade has damaged more than half of grain planted in 11 regions and hot, dry weather may continue for the rest of this month, a meteorologist said. “We don’t see much room for improvement in July,” said Anna […]

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