By GARANCE BURKE, DOS PALOS, Calif. (AP) — The government is spending $40 million in federal stimulus funds to pull water from underground aquifers in drought-stricken California, even as evidence is growing that the well-drilling boom could degrade the quality of water delivered to millions of residents. Farmers, conservationists and engineers are criticizing the […]
By Anisa Kadri A lack of rainfall has contributed to the ongoing food crisis in East Africa, Oxfam said on Thursday. It was hoped that rains expected in November would provide relief for those struck by famine in this region. However, areas including Ogaden in Ethiopia and Turkana in Kenya received below five per cent […]
ScienceDaily (Dec. 21, 2009) — All insect-eating migratory birds who winter in Africa and breed in the Dutch woods have decreased in numbers since 1984. This has been revealed by research conducted by the University of Groningen, the SOVON Dutch Centre for Field Ornithology, Statistics Netherlands (CBS), Radboud University Nijmegen and Alterra, published on 16 […]
By Christine Dell’Amore in CopenhagenNational Geographic NewsDecember 18, 2009 The Amazon’s “flying rivers”—humid air currents that deliver water to the vast rain forest—may be ebbing, which could have dire consequences for the region’s ability to help curb global warming, an expert said this week at the Copenhagen climate conference. Rising temperatures in the Amazon region, […]
Due to the current El Niño event, above‐average rainfall was forecast for the areas of East Africa that receive October to December rains. These rains were expected to contribute to a reduction in the high to extreme levels of food insecurity that have affected many parts of the region following several consecutive failed rainy seasons. […]
Some Fish Stock Decline as Jumbo Squid Migrate to New Waters By MOISES VELASQUEZ-MANOFFDec. 19, 2009 When large numbers of jumbo squid first showed up in California’s Monterey Bay in 1997, scientists weren’t sure what had brought the cephalopod that far north. An unusually strong El Niño event had warmed the eastern Pacific. But the […]
Reuters: Climate change and the fast diminishing glaciers in the Andes are posing a serious threat to water supplies in the Bolivian highlands. The rapid pace at which glaciers are melting in the Andes mountain range is posing a serious threat to the water supply of many Andean countries, and particularly Bolivia. Scientists expect that […]
(Reuters) FOR CENTURIES a monastic fortress in Bhutan’s Himalayas has sheltered ancient Buddhist relics and scriptures from earthquakes, fires and Tibetan invasions. Now the lamas here may have met their match – global warming. At least 53 million cubic metres of glacier melt is threatening to break the banks of a lake upstream in the […]
COPENHAGEN—The Altiplano, or high plain, of Bolivia and Peru is getting a new climate. In the past 60 years temperatures have risen, rainfall patterns have changed and soils have begun to dry out even further. As a result, farmers move their crops further up the mountainsides, like endangered species seeking refuge at cooler elevations. Floods […]
Much of the U. S. has been warmer in recent years, and that affects which trees are right for planting. The Arbor Day Foundation has recently completed an extensive updating of U.S. Hardiness Zones based upon data from 5,000 National Climatic Data Center cooperative stations across the continental United States. Hardiness Zone Changes Between 1990 […]