Arctic nearly free of summer sea ice during first half of 21st century: NOAA study

12 April 2013 (NOAA) – For scientists studying summer sea ice in the Arctic, it’s not a question of “if” there will be nearly ice-free summers, but “when.” And two scientists say that “when” is sooner than many thought — before 2050 and possibly within the next decade or two. James Overland of NOAA’s Pacific […]

NOAA to map Alaska’s increasingly ice-free Arctic waters – ‘We don’t have decades to get it done. Ice diminishment is here now.’

Arctic Nautical Charting Plan from climate central By Michael D. Lemonick27 February 2013 (Climate Central) – The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has launched a program to update some of its nautical charts, thanks largely to climate change. The revisions affect Alaska’s coast, which has America’s only Arctic seafront. As a result of global […]

Don’t believe in climate change? Talk to a clam digger. ‘Pray that the winds change soon.’

By Maria Dolan18 February 2013 (Slate) – Behind the counter at Seattle’s Taylor Shellfish Market, a brawny guy with a goatee pries open kumamoto, virginica, and shigoku oysters as easily as other men pop beer cans. David Leck is a national oyster shucking champion who opened and plated a dozen of them in just over […]

NOAA: February 2012 to January 2013 warmest on record

By Lauren Morello14 February 2013 (Climate Central) – January was warmer and wetter than average in the contiguous U.S., despite the persistent drought in the nation’s heartland, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday. The average temperature in the lower 48 states reached 32.0°F last month. At 1.6°F above the 20th century average, January […]

NOAA, USGS: Climate change impacts to U.S. coasts threaten public health, safety, and economy

28 January 2013 (NOAA) – According to a new technical report, the effects of climate change will continue to threaten the health and vitality of U.S. coastal communities’ social, economic and natural systems. The report, Coastal Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerabilities: a technical input to the 2013 National Climate Assessment, authored by leading scientists and experts, […]

NASA: Long-term global warming trend continues

By Patrick Lynch and Mike Carlowicz16 January 2013 (NASA Earth Observatory) – Scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) say 2012 was the ninth warmest year since 1880, continuing a long-term trend of rising global temperatures. The ten warmest years in the 132-year record have all occurred since 1998. The last year that […]

Image of the Day: Nighttime satellite view of North Dakota gas flares

By Brian Bowen, bowen@ceres.org, 617-247-0700×14810 January 2013 Boston, Massachusetts (Ceres.org) – The rapid growth in domestic oil production has set the United States on track to become the world’s top oil producer by 2015, but investors are wary of the environmentally damaging practices associated with that growth, specifically the burning off—or flaring—of natural gas that […]

U.S. roasts to hottest year on record by landslide – ‘A picture is emerging of a world with more extreme heat’

By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer8 January 2013 WASHINGTON (AP) – America set an off-the-charts heat record in 2012. A brutal combination of a widespread drought and a mostly absent winter pushed the average annual U.S. temperature last year up to 55.32 degrees Fahrenheit, the government announced Tuesday. That’s a full degree warmer than the […]

U.S. lists 2 ice seal species as threatened, including ringed seals, which are prey of polar bears

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, 21 December 2012 (AP) – Two types of ice seals joined polar bears Friday on the list of species threatened by the loss of sea ice, which scientists say reached record low levels this year due to climate warming. Ringed seals, the main prey of polar bears, and bearded seals in the Arctic […]

2012: The end of Earth’s Arctic Era

By Larry O’Hanlon 6 December 2012 This year’s record ice melts in Greenland and the Arctic ocean aren’t flukes, but confirmation that the Arctic is racing ahead into a new and unknown climate state, said top US climate scientists today. The announcement came with the release today of the 2012 Arctic Report Card, which calls […]

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