Global surface temperature anomalies, 1880-2019, compared with the 1880-1899 average. The year 2019 was the second warmest year on record, capping the warmest decade since measurements began. Data: Gavin Schmidt / NASA GISTEMP. Graphic: InsideClimate

2010-2019: Earth’s hottest decade on record marked by extreme storms, deadly wildfires – “The climate of the 20th Century is gone. We’re in a new neighborhood.”

By Bob Berwyn 19 December 2019 (InsideClimate News) – Deadly heat waves, wildfires and widespread flooding punctuated a decade of climate extremes that, by many scientific accounts, show global warming kicking into overdrive. As the year drew to a close, scientists were confidently saying 2019 was Earth’s second-warmest recorded year on record, capping the warmest […]

Arctic surface temperature anomaly, 1958-2019, relative to the 1981-2010 baseline. Data: NOAA/ESRL Physical Science Division (WRIT Tool: +67°N). Graphic: Zachary Labe

2019 was hottest year on record in Russia, 2nd hottest in Arctic Circle – Warmest New Year’s Eve on record in Anchorage

MOSCOW, 30 December 2019 (AFP) – This year was the hottest ever registered in Russia, the country’s weather chief said on Monday, as climate change pushes global temperatures to record highs. “This year in Russia was the hottest for the entire period of instrumental observations,” the head of the Gidromedtsentr weather service, Roman Vilfand, told […]

Animation showing the age of the Arctic sea ice between 2015 and 2019. Video: NASA

35 years of climate change in one video

By Johnny Wood 18 November 2019 (WEF) – Q: If you subtract 95 percent from something, what’s left? A: An environmental crisis. The “something” in question is the oldest and thickest solid layer of frozen water in the Arctic Ocean, which is melting so rapidly that just 5% of its original mass remains. Scientists from the […]

(a) Estimated distances animals can travel during the Phocine distemper virus (PDV) latent and infectious period (1 week, 2 weeks, and 4 weeks) illustrating the areas where viral transmission could occur, based on median travel speeds calculated for satellite-tagged bearded seals (green circles), spotted seals (orange), Steller sea lions (blue), and northern fur seals (purple). (b) Recorded tracks of a PDV seropositive bearded seal followed in July 2009 and a seropositive northern fur seal followed in November 2010 shown with sympatric PCR positive spotted seals, ribbon seals, and northern fur seals sampled 2009–2010. Sea ice is shown at its minimum extent in September (panel a) and retreating the following July after reaching a maximum winter extent (panel b). Graphic: VanWormer, et al., 2019 / Scientific Reports

Deadly virus spreads among marine mammals as Arctic sea ice melts – Scientists fear the virus, once found only in European waters, could spread to the U.S. West Coast

By Sarah Gibbens 7 November 2019 (National Geographic) – When sea otters in Alaska were diagnosed with phocine distemper virus (PDV) in 2004, scientists were confused. The pathogen in the Morbillivirus genus that contains viruses like measles had then only been found in Europe and on the eastern coast of North America. “We didn’t understand how a […]

Map showing average surface sea temperature in the Sea of Okhotsk, compared with the late 1800s. Data: Berkeley Earth. Graphic: John Muyskens / The Washington Post

The climate chain reaction that threatens the heart of the Pacific – “When are the fish coming?”

By Simon Denyer and Chris Mooney 12 November 2019 SHIRETOKO PENINSULA, Japan (The Washington Post) – Lined up along the side of their boat, the fishermen hauled a huge, heavy net up from swelling waves. At first, a few small jellyfish emerged, then a piece of plastic. Then net, and more net. Finally, all the […]

Summary of polar bear population status in 2019 by regional subpopulation, showing populations with decreasing trends. Graphic: IUCN / SSC Polar Bear Specialist Group (PBSG)

Scientists update status of polar bear populations with 2019 data

By Dag Vongraven 20 September 2019 (PBSG) – At the last meeting of the IUCN/SSC Polar Bear Specialist Group (PBSG) in Anchorage in 2016, the group agreed that there was a need for new and documented criteria for the assessment of status and trends of polar bear populations. Work to develop a new set of […]

This animation shows Arctic sea ice decline from 1979 to 2019 from pink to purple, with dark purple in 2019. This animation is based on the Chartic Interactive Sea Ice Graph. Graphic: M. Scott / NSIDC

Falling up: A look back at the 2019 Arctic summer – New record daily lows for sea ice extent in July and early August

3 October 2019 (NSIDC) – Arctic sea ice began its autumn regrowth in the last 12 days of September, with the ice edge expanding along a broad front in the western Arctic Ocean. Overall, the summer of 2019 was exceptionally warm, with repeated pulses of very warm air from northern Siberia and the Bering Strait. […]

Map showing 2015–2019 five-year average temperature anomalies relative to the 1981-2010 average. Data: NASA GISTEMP v4. through June 2019. Graphic: WMO

Landmark “United in Science” report brings together world’s leading climate science organizations

NEW YORK, 22 September 2019 (WMO) – The world’s leading climate science organizations have joined forces to produce a landmark new report  [pdf] for the United Nations Climate Action Summit, underlining the glaring – and growing – gap between agreed targets to tackle global warming and the actual reality. The report, United in Science, includes details on the […]

Weather projection on 21 August 2019 showing extreme low pressure headed for the northern Canada, causing an “Arctic ice smasher” storm that is arriving about two months early for the Arctic. Graphic: The Weather Network

Extreme ice smasher storm headed for the Arctic, two months early

By Tyler Hamilton 21 August 2019 (The Weather Network) – This storm is about two months early for the Arctic. Later this week a rare system will make its way into the Arctic Ocean. This system’s pressure centre is expected to dip to an unusually low value for the month of August. Just how low? […]

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured an image of thick wildfire smoke swirling over the state on 8 July 2019. Meteorologists in Fairbanks reported visibility had dropped to less than one mile due to smoke, and air quality sensors in the city reported skyrocketing levels of particulates in the air. Photo: NASA Earth Observatory

Baked Alaska: State endures warmest month on record in July 2019

By Christopher C. Burt 9 August 2019 (Weather Underground) – July 2019 was the warmest month on record for the state of Alaska, smashing the previous record by almost one full degree Fahrenheit and leaving numerous local records for hottest day and warmest month in the superheated dust. Records for statewide average temperatures date back […]

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