Sea ice insulates the ocean, reflects heat, drives currents, supports ecosystems and protects ice shelves. It also has an annual seasonal cycle—some of the ice melts, then freezes again.…Continue readingDevastatingly low Antarctic sea ice may be the ‘new abnormal,’ study warns
Tag: warming
Earth’s life support systems have been so damaged that the planet is “well outside the safe operating space for humanity”, scientists have warned. Their assessment found that six out…Continue readingEarth ‘well outside safe operating space for humanity’
Antarctica is likely warming at almost twice the rate of the rest of the world and faster than climate change models are predicting, with potentially far-reaching implications for global…Continue readingAntarctica warming much faster than models predicted in ‘deeply concerning’ sign for sea levels
Shallow waters off south Florida topped 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8˚C) for several hours on Monday, potentially setting a new world record with temperatures more commonly associated with hot tubs.…Continue readingFlorida ocean temperature topped 100˚F, setting potential record
If we look even farther back, to the previous interglacial period, which peaked around 125,000 years ago, we do find evidence of warmer temperatures. The evidence suggests the long-term…Continue readingIs it really hotter now than any time in 100,000 years?
The UK’s hottest year of 2022 — when temperatures rose to a record 40˚C in the summer — will be considered “average” by about 2060 if the world keeps…Continue readingUK’s record heatwave will be seen as ‘cool’ by 2100, Met Office warns
Algeria: At least 34 people were killed, where 8,000 firefighters battled blazes across the tinder-dry north. Fires burned in a total of 15 provinces, leading to the evacuation of…Continue readingMediterranean on fire as blazes spread across nine countries
Temperatures have consistently topped 40 degrees Celsius this week across southern and eastern European countries, and for some areas like Sicily there remains no respite. The Italian island was…Continue readingFrom scorching heat to deadly storms, Europe has no rest from ‘summer of hell’
A blistering heatwave that has engulfed the southern US over the past four weeks has spread to the Great Plains, midwest, mid-Atlantic and north-eastern regions, placing about 190 million…Continue readingBlistering US heatwave spreads from south and scorches 190m Americans
The world is shifting towards a superheated climate not seen in the past 1m years, prior to human existence, because “we are damned fools” for not acting upon warnings…Continue reading‘We are damned fools’: scientist who sounded climate alarm in 80s warns of worse to come
The sea is becoming greener due to changes in plankton populations, analysis of Nasa images finds. When comparing these changes in colour with those hypothesised from a computer model…Continue readingWorld’s oceans changing colour due to climate breakdown, study suggests
Soaring greenhouse gases, ubiquitous microplastics, pervasive “forever chemicals”, the global upheaval of animals, even old mobile phones and chicken bones—all have been put forward as evidence that the world…Continue readingSigns of the human era, from nuclear fallout to microplastics
“The world just had the hottest week on record, according to preliminary data,” the WMO said in a statement, after climate change and the early stages of the El…Continue readingLast week the hottest worldwide on record: UN
Scientists say human activity has so fundamentally altered the geology, atmosphere and biology of the earth that it has entered a new geologic epoch known as the Anthropocene. On…Continue readingEvidence in Canada lake indicates start of new Anthropocene epoch
The slow-down of the Southern Ocean circulation, a dramatic drop in the extent of sea ice and unprecedented heatwaves are all raising concerns that Antarctica may be approaching tipping…Continue readingAntarctic tipping points: The irreversible changes to come if we fail to keep warming below 2˚C
The Arctic Ocean could be ice-free in summer by the 2030s, even if we do a good job of reducing emissions between now and then. That’s the worrying conclusion…Continue readingArctic Ocean could be ice-free in summer by 2030s, with global, damaging and dangerous consequences
United Nations climate chief says while the rapid end of burning coal, oil, and natural gas is urgently needed, the topic may not even reach crucial COP28 negotiations.Continue readingWill fossil fuel phase-out make it onto the UN’s climate agenda?
It is now too late to save summer Arctic sea ice. The study also shows that if emissions decline slowly or continue to rise, the first ice-free summer could…Continue readingToo late now to save Arctic summer ice, climate scientists find
“CO2 now is higher than any time in the last 4 to 4.5 million years when the atmosphere was about 7 degrees Fahrenheit (3.9 degrees Celsius) warmer and sea…Continue readingAmount of warming triggering carbon dioxide in air hits new peak, growing at near-record fast rate
“Our data show the impacts of climate change are running ahead of schedule,” said lead author Kathryn Gunn, of the Australian Science agency CSIRO and Britain’s Southampton University. The…Continue readingDangerous slowing of Antarctic ocean circulation sooner than expected
We found melting of Antarctic ice is disrupting the formation of Antarctic bottom water. The meltwater makes Antarctic surface waters fresher, less dense, and therefore less likely to sink.…Continue readingAntarctic alarm bells: Observations reveal deep ocean currents are slowing earlier than predicted
The dangerous and destructive myths of conventional economics include the claims that: Since planetary boundaries have already been exceeded and low-income countries must develop, social justice demands that the…Continue readingSaving humanity: Here’s a radical approach to building a sustainable and just society
“The human fingerprints in temperature changes in the mid to upper stratosphere due to CO2 increases are truly exceptional because they are so large and so different from temperature…Continue readingAtmospheric research provides clear evidence of human-caused climate change signal associated with CO₂ increases
We analyzed fire danger trends in different elevation bands of the Western U.S. mountains from 1979 to 2020. Fire danger describes conditions that reflect the potential for a fire…Continue readingFire danger in the high mountains is intensifying, shows study of four decades of data
Extreme temperatures described as ‘worst April heatwave in Asian history’ as records threatened in India, China, Thailand and Laos.Continue readingSevere heatwave engulfs Asia causing deaths and forcing schools to close
Six months without notable cold spell was ‘amazing’ given record rainfall during same period, Bureau of Meteorology says.Continue readingCentury-old Sydney weather record broken with 184 days of 20˚C or higher
In 2022 the summer minimum was less than 2 million square km for the first time since satellite records began. This summer, the minimum was even lower—just 1.7 million…Continue readingAntarctica’s heart of ice has skipped a beat: Science briefing calls for action
The groundbreaking modeling study published by Australian and American researchers at the end of March for the first time includes a detailed assessment of the likely impact of melting…Continue readingNew Research Sparks Concerns That Ocean Circulation Will Collapse
The world’s glaciers melted at dramatic speed last year and saving them is effectively a lost cause, the United Nations reported Friday, as climate change indicators once again hit…Continue readingUN reports ‘off the charts’ melting of glaciers
The temperature of the world’s ocean surface has hit an all-time high since satellite records began, leading to marine heatwaves around the globe, according to US government data.Continue reading‘Headed off the charts’: world’s ocean surface temperature hits record high
The most recent decade surveyed in a study, the years 2001 to 2011, was the warmest in the past 1,000 years, and the region is now 1.5 degrees Celsius…Continue readingGlobal warming reaches central Greenland
The analysis, by the Global Carbon Project, calculates Earth’s “carbon budget“, which is how much CO₂ humans have released, and how much has been removed from the atmosphere by…Continue readingGlobal carbon emissions at record levels with no signs of shrinking
More and more scientists are now admitting publicly that they are scared by the recent climate extremes, such as the floods in Pakistan and west Africa, the droughts and…Continue readingWhy scientists are using the word scary over the climate crisis
Caption for figure above: Grid-cell specific rankings of 22-yr negative soil moisture anomalies (drought rank) in 2000–2021 compared to the driest 22-yr period in each previous drought event back…Continue readingMegadrought in the American south-west: a climate disaster unseen in 1,200 years
The world’s chances of avoiding the worst ravages of climate breakdown are diminishing rapidly, as we enter “uncharted territory of destruction” through our failure to cut greenhouse gas emissions…Continue readingWorld heading into ‘uncharted territory of destruction’
The latest assessment by risk company Verisk Maplecroft brings those two threats together to calculate that heat stress already poses an “extreme risk” to agriculture in 20 countries, including…Continue readingCountries growing 70% of world’s food face ‘extreme’ heat risk by 2045
Smoke from hundreds of wildfires has darkened skies over the Alaskan interior this summer with the state experiencing its fastest start to the fire season on record amid hot…Continue reading‘Nothing left to burn’: Wildfires blaze through the Arctic
The climate crisis has driven the world to the brink of multiple “disastrous” tipping points, according to a major study. It shows five dangerous tipping points may already have…Continue readingWorld on brink of five ‘disastrous’ climate tipping points
Researchers found that a typical forest fire season now burns 3 million more hectares (7.4 million more acres) than in 2001. Forest fires accounted for a quarter of global…Continue readingForest fires burn twice as many trees as two decades ago
An international team of researchers looked specifically at 25,000 species, including fish, bacteria, plants and protozoans living in the top 100 meters of the world’s oceans. They found that…Continue reading90% of marine species at risk of extinction by 2100 if greenhouse gas emissions are not curbed
Portugal recorded its hottest July on record. The average temperature was 25.1˚C (77.3 ˚F), it said. That was almost 3˚C higher than the expected July average. The heat worsened…Continue readingPortugal sets new July heat record, worsening severe drought
Global heating could become “catastrophic” for humanity if temperature rises are worse than many predict or cause cascades of events we have yet to consider, or indeed both. The…Continue readingClimate change: Potential to end humanity is ‘dangerously underexplored’ say experts
Scientists have been able quickly to prove that record-breaking temperatures are no natural occurrence. A study published last month showed that the south Asian heatwave was made 30 times…Continue readingBurning planet
Muhammad Akbar, 40, sells dried chickpeas on a wheelbarrow in Jacobabad, and has suffered heatstroke three times in his life. But now, he says, the heat is getting worse.…Continue reading‘It seems this heat will take our lives’: Pakistan city fearful after hitting 51˚C (124˚F)
Four key climate change indicators—greenhouse gas concentrations, sea level rise, ocean heat and ocean acidification—set new records in 2021. “It is just a matter of time before we see…Continue readingFour climate change records broken in 2021: WMO State of the Climate Report
The coldest location on the planet has experienced an episode of warm weather this week unlike any ever observed, with temperatures over the eastern Antarctic ice sheet soaring 50…Continue readingIt’s 70˚F (40˚C) warmer than normal in eastern Antarctica. Scientists are flabbergasted.
The Pope, Smith and Kohler glaciers, in the Amundsen Sea Embayment of West Antarctica, have experienced enhanced ocean-induced ice-shelf melt, glacier acceleration, ice thinning and grounding-line retreat in the…Continue readingStudy – Rapid glacier retreat rates observed in West Antarctica
The world’s oceans are hotter than ever before, continuing their record-breaking temperature streak for the sixth straight year. For the last year, the researchers found that the upper 2,000…Continue readingAccumulated heat in the upper ocean is at record levels again
New results from a long-running public opinion survey show that about 1 in 3 Americans is now “alarmed” by global warming. Is it any wonder, given the horrific onslaught…Continue reading1 in 3 Americans now ‘alarmed’ by climate change