Climate Change

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Kristoffer Tigue at Inside Climate News reports that climate change made the brutal heat wave assaulting Texas worse, but that the state’s renewable power sources have helped keep the air conditioners running. Temperatures are predicted to stay over 100°F this week, with a slight break owing to a thunderstorm system. […]

Is Climate Change outpacing our Ability to predict extreme Heatwaves?

By Damien Irving, CSIRO and James Risbey, CSIRO | – When an extreme weather event happens somewhere in the world these days, it’s common to read quotes from climate scientists explaining this is exactly the kind of event we expect to see more often as climate change progresses. Such events are often devastating, but not […]

Climate Crisis: Iranian City, hottest in World on Thursday, hits Record for late Spring Heat, at 50.8 °C [123.44 °F]

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) The Iranian city of Zabol in the northern part of the Sistan and Baluchistan province won the global high temperature sweepstakes on June 22, according to the Spanish meteorological site OGIMET , coming in at 50.8 °C [123.44 °F]. It is the first time in 60 years that a city in […]

Antarctica

Fractured Foundations: how Antarctica’s ‘landfast’ Ice is Dwindling and why that’s bad News

By Alexander Fraser, University of Tasmania; Christine Weldrick, University of Tasmania; Laura Dalman, University of Tasmania; Matthew Corkill, University of Tasmania and Pat Wongpan, University of Tasmania | – There’s more to Antarctic ice than meets the eye. Sea ice is not a uniform crust overlying the salty Southern Ocean. Our new research is the […]

Biodiversity

Ecological Failure-Loops: Why Ecosystem Collapses may occur much sooner than Expected – New Research

By John Dearing, University of Southampton; Gregory Cooper, University of Sheffield; and Simon Willcock, Bangor University | – Across the world, rainforests are becoming savanna or farmland, savanna is drying out and turning into desert, and icy tundra is thawing. Indeed, scientific studies have now recorded “regime shifts” like these in more than 20 different […]

Bangladesh

Climate Crisis: Himalaya Glacier Melt Feeds India’s and Pakistan’s Rivers, but 80% of Lower Level Glacier Mass could be gone this Century

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A new report on ice in the Himalayas issued by The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) finds that at the lower elevations of the Himalaya mountains, the snow depth and mass are projected to decline 25% by 2050 (regardless of greenhouse gas scenarios, i.e. this is already baked […]

Hurricanes push heat deeper into the Ocean than Scientists realized, boosting long-term Ocean Warming

By Noel Gutiérrez Brizuela, University of California, San Diego and Sally Warner, Brandeis University | – (The Conversation) – When a hurricane hits land, the destruction can be visible for years or even decades. Less obvious, but also powerful, is the effect hurricanes have on the oceans. In a new study, we show through real-time […]

Europe Heating up at Twice global Average, with Extreme Weather cost of $2 bn.