Worst mass extinction event in Earth’s history was caused by global warming analogous to current climate crisis

By Mike Gaworecki3 January 2019 (Mongabay) – New research by scientists at the United States’ University of Washington and Stanford University suggests that the most destructive mass extinction event in Earth’s ancient history was caused by global warming that left marine life unable to breathe. The Permian period, the last period of the Paleozoic Era, […]

The audacious plan to clean plastics from the Pacific Ocean has broken down

By James Rainey 4 January 2019 (NBC News) – An ambitious project to clean up a vast tide of ocean pollution has been sidelined. The project’s 2,000-foot-long screen — which was already failing to capture plastic while stationed more than 1,000 miles off the coast of California — broke apart just before New Year’s under […]

Welcome to the Eocene, where ice sheets turn into swamps – “We are creating a geological-scale climate event”

By Eric Holthaus 11 December 2018 (Grist) – Our current rate of warming will quickly lead us back to a climate that predates the evolution of modern humans, according to a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. That kind of rapid change has no direct comparison in all of Earth’s […]

Dead whale washes ashore on Indonesia beach, with six kilograms of plastic in its stomach

By Jessica Taylor 19 November 2018 (Evening Standard) – Distressing photos have emerged online of a beached whale in Indonesia that was found to have almost six kilograms of plastic in its stomach. The sperm whale washed up on the shore of Kapota Island, in the Wakatobi Archipelago of Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia on Monday, 19 […]

Scientists acknowledge key errors in study of how fast the oceans are warming

By Chris Mooney and Brady Dennis 13 November 2018 (The Washington Post) – Scientists behind a major study that claimed the Earth’s oceans are warming faster than previously thought now say their work contained inadvertent errors that made their conclusions seem more certain than they actually are. [cf. Earth’s oceans have absorbed 60 percent more […]

Earth’s oceans have absorbed 60 percent more heat per year than previously thought

By Morgan Kelly and Robert Monroe 1 November 2018 (Princeton University) – For each year during the past quarter century, the world’s oceans have absorbed an amount of heat energy that is 150 times the energy humans produce as electricity annually, according to a study led by researchers at Princeton and the Scripps Institution of […]

Oyster populations at risk as global warming transforms ocean ecosystems – “The near-future looks bleak”

By Simon Davies 11 October 2018 (Institute of Physics) – Climate change’s effect on coastal ecosystems is very likely to increase mortality risks of adult oyster populations in the next 20 years.That is the finding of a new study led by the University of Nantes, the LEMAR (the Marine Environmental Science Laboratory) in Plouzané and […]

Persistent Alaska warmth in fall 2018 has brought back “the blob” – No snow yet in Fairbanks, latest on record

By Ian Livingston 18 October 2018 (The Washington Post) – Throughout early fall, Alaska has been oddly warm and pleasant. The cause of the freakishly nice weather has been massive high pressure anchored over and around the state. One of the strongest on record for fall, this sprawling dome of warm air has helped keep […]

Climate warming to boost major hurricanes in active Atlantic seasons

27 September 2018 (NOAA) – New NOAA research that looks at the devastating 2017 Atlantic hurricane season projects that if similar weather conditions occur in the future, it’s likely that the number of major hurricanes (category 3 and higher) would increase by two in a similar active year at the end of century.This increase would […]

Here’s why hurricanes are rapidly exploding in strength

By Chris Mooney 11 October 2018 (The Washington Post) – The unforgettable thing about record-setting Hurricane Michael will always be how rapidly it became a near-Category 5 storm, perfectly timed for a sneak attack on the Florida Panhandle.On Tuesday morning, Floridians knew a storm was coming but not how strong it would be. As of […]

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