(a) Maps of the Pacific Northwest U.S. showing the median annual flight hours between November 1st and January 31st for Historical, and near-future, mid-future, and distant-future time frames for two RCPs, (b) elevations with Cascade and Rocky Mountain ranges marked, (c) Map of the continental United States with highlighted study area (grey). The historical panel of ‘a’ marks two locations in Washington State, Omak, and Richland, which are referenced in the text. Note that the elevation data is not used in any analysis and is provided solely for visual context. Graphic: Rajagopalan, et al., 2024 / Nature Scientific Reports

Western honeybee colonies at risk of collapse, WSU study finds – “They’re really the glue in our ecosystems. And you never notice the glue — until it stops working.”

By Conrad Swanson 1 April 2024 (The Seattle Times) – One of nature’s most important keystone species is working itself to death. Colonies of honeybees — crucial pollinators for a wide variety of plants and cash crops — are at risk of collapse because of climate change, a recent study by scientists at Washington State University and […]

Top: Zonal-mean sea surface temperature (SST) (12-month running-mean) relative to 1951-1980 base period. Bottom: Zonal-mean surface temperature (12-month running-mean) relative to 1951-1980. Graphic: Hansen, Sato, and Kharecha, 2024

Global warming acceleration: hope vs. hopium – “The increase is not due to a brightening Sun, it is due to a darkening Earth”

By James Hansen, Makiko Sato, and Pushker Kharecha 29 March 2024 (Columbia University) – Accumulating evidence supports the interpretation in our Pipeline paper: decreasing human-made aerosols increased Earth’s energy imbalance and accelerated global warming in the past decade. Climate sensitivity and aerosol forcing, physically independent quantities, were tied together by United Nations IPCC climate assessments that rely […]

Map showing global estuarine areal change, net change in estuarine surface area (ESA)(km2) per estuary. Line plots show gross area gained and lost as well as net estuarine area change per 1° latitude and longitude relative to the total area of gross gain and loss and net area change worldwide, respectively. Hotspots of ESA loss occur in Asia. Graphic: Jung, et al., 2024 / Earth’s Future

Humans converted at least 250,000 acres of estuaries to cities, farms in last 35 years

WASHINGTON, 9 April 2024 (AGU) – Worldwide over the past 35 years, dams and land reclamation activities converted 250,000 acres of estuary — an area roughly 17 times the size of Manhattan — to urban land or agricultural fields, with most land conversion and estuary loss in rapidly developing countries, a new study finds. The findings could […]

Monthly global surface air temperature anomalies (°C) relative to 1850–1900 from January 1940 to March 2024, plotted as time series for each year. 2024 is shown with a thick yellow line, 2023 with a thick red line, and all other years with thin lines shaded according to the decade, from blue (1940s) to brick red (2020s). Data source: ERA5. Graphic: C3S / ECMWF

Earth’s warmest March is 10th straight record month, NOAA and NASA find

By Jonathan Erdman 12 April 2024 (Weather.com) – March was E​arth’s warmest on record, according to data from three separate agencies, the latest month in a stretch of heat records since the planet’s hottest year in 2023. Another month, another record In a report released Friday, NOAA found March’s globally average temperature was 2.43 degrees Fahrenheit above […]

Map showing projected income changes in 2049 compared to an economy without climate change. Income changes are committed in the sense that they are caused by historical emissions. Photo: Kotz et al., 2024 / Nature

New study calculates climate change’s economic impact will hit $38 trillion per year by 2049 – World economy already committed to income reduction of 19 percent – World’s poorest countries will suffer 61 percent bigger income loss than the richest ones

By Seth Borenstein 17 April 2024 (AP) – Climate change will reduce future global income by about 19% in the next 25 years compared to a fictional world that’s not warming, with the poorest areas and those least responsible for heating the atmosphere taking the biggest monetary hit, a new study said. Climate change’s economic […]

Coal power plant additions and retirements for 20 countries in 2023 (GW). China added 47 GW of coal in 2023, double the amount from the rest of the world combined. Globally, more coal power was added than retired in 2023. Data: GEM Global Coal Plant Tracker, January 2024. Graphic: Daniel Dunford / Sky News

New coal plants in China soar despite President Xi’s pledge to “strictly control” dirtiest fuel – “We can’t afford blips”

By Victoria Seabrook and Daniel Dunford 11 April 2024 (Sky News) – China ramped up coal power capacity last year, according to new analysis, despite a pledge to “strictly control” the dirtiest fossil fuel. The country added 47.4 Gigawatts (GW) of new coal power in 2023, more than double the amount added by the rest […]

Map showing breeding colonies of emperor penguin in Antarctica. In 2023, 14 of the 66 colonies in Antarctica lost some or all of their chicks due to sea ice breakup. Graphic: British Antarctic Survey

Emperor penguins suffered mass breeding failures in 2023 amid record low sea ice – “They’ll either freeze to death or they’ll drown”

By Gloria Dickie 25 April 2024 LONDON (Reuters) – Record low sea ice in late 2023 led to breeding failures in one-fifth of Antarctica’s emperor penguin colonies, scientists with the British Antarctic Survey said on Thursday. Emperors – the world’s largest penguin species and one of only two endemic to Antarctica — depend on sea […]

Map showing notable economic loss events due to natural and climate disasters in 2023. Global economic losses in 2023 were higher than the 21st century average. Economic losses from global natural disasters in 2023 are estimated at $380 billion, above long-term and short-term averages, after adjusting historical losses to today’s values using the U.S. Consumer Price Index. All continents recorded remarkable natural disaster events in 2023 and multiple countries faced the most significant disasters in their modern histories. The global map shows event and peril patterns that contributed to the overall economic losses in 2023. The largest loss driver was earthquake, yet this was largely caused by a handful of events, notably the earthquake sequence in Turkey and Syria. Severe convective storms came second, with the largest individual losses concentrated in the United States and Europe. Graphic: Aon

Aon: Number of billion-dollar disasters in 2023 highest on record – Severe convective storms were the most damaging peril for insurers

LONDON, 23 January 2024 (Aon) – Aon plc, a leading global professional services firm, today published its 2024 Climate and Catastrophe Insight report, which identifies global natural disaster and climate trends to help make better decisions to manage volatility and enhance global resilience. The report reveals that the 398 global natural disaster events caused a $380 billion (2022: $355 billion) […]

Maps showing Central and South-East Africa cholera attack rate per 100,000 people (suspected and confirmed cases per month) between September and December 2023, as of 15 December 2023. Graphic: WHO

Cholera cases soar globally amid shortage of vaccines – “The unprecedented rate of cases and deaths is terrifying, and utterly overwhelming the health systems of these countries”

By Weronika Strzyżyńska 12 January 2024 (The Guardian) – Cholera cases soared last year, according to preliminary data from the World Health Organization, which recorded 4,000 cholera deaths and 667,000 cases globally. The numbers surpassed that of 2022, and the WHO has classified the global resurgence of cholera as a grade 3 emergency, its highest internal health […]

Global mean surface temperature difference compared with 1850-1900 average, 1850-2023. Six different data sets are shown. The 2023 annual average global temperature was 1.45 ± 0.12 °C above pre-industrial levels. Graphic: WMO

WMO confirms that 2023 smashed global temperature record – “Humanity’s actions are scorching the earth. 2023 was a mere preview of the catastrophic future that awaits if we don’t act now.”

12 January 2024 (WMO) – The annual average global temperature approached 1.5° Celsius above pre-industrial levels – symbolic because the Paris Agreement on climate change aims to limit the long-term temperature increase (averaged over decades rather than an individual year like 2023) to no more than 1.5° Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Six leading international datasets used for […]

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