In recent years, Antarctica has experienced a series of unprecedented heat waves. On 6 February 2020, temperatures of 18.3°C were recorded, the highest ever seen on the continent, beating…Continue readingClimate change is speeding up in Antarctica
Tag: warming
The annual State of the Climate report by the UN weather and climate agency confirmed preliminary data showing 2023 was by far the hottest year ever recorded. And last…Continue readingPlanet ‘on the brink’, with new heat records likely in 2024: UN
England has experienced its wettest 18 months since records began in 1836, leaving farmers struggling to plant crops in waterlogged fields and transport networks disrupted by flooding. Climate change…Continue readingEngland drenched after the wettest 18 months since records began in 1836
Six leading international datasets used for monitoring global temperatures and consolidated by WMO show that the annual average global temperature was 1.45 ± 0.12 °C above pre-industrial levels (1850-1900)…Continue readingWMO confirms that 2023 smashes global temperature record
Geologists on an international subcommission recently voted down a proposal to formally recognize that we have entered the Anthropocene, a new geological epoch representing the time when massive, unrelenting…Continue readingViewpoint: What the Anthropocene’s critics overlook, and why it really should be a new geological epoch
Months of record breaking temperatures and the El Niño weather phenomenon pushed the heating up of the world’s oceans to a new peak in February, scientists said. Oceans cover…Continue readingCarbon emissions and El Nino push oceans to record temperatures
The quest to declare the Anthropocene an official geological epoch has descended into an epic row, after the validity of a leaked vote that apparently killed the proposal was…Continue readingQuest to declare Anthropocene an epoch descends into epic row
Researchers from the University of Cambridge and the British Antarctic Survey have uncovered the first direct evidence that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet shrunk suddenly and dramatically at the…Continue readingIce cores provide first documentation of rapid Antarctic ice loss in the past
The new chief of the World Meteorological Organization said it looks to her that the rate of human-caused climate change is accelerating and that warming has triggered more Arctic…Continue readingNew UN weather agency chief says rate of global warming is speeding up
Scientists analysed 300 years of ocean temperature records from marine sponges and discovered global warming has increased by 0.5˚C more than was previously estimated. In the study, published in…Continue readingMarine sponges reveal global warming has already exceeded 1.5 degrees
Limiting average global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, above preindustrial levels has been the gold standard for climate action since at least the 2015 Paris…Continue readingNew study says the world blew past 1.5˚C four years ago
The global mean temperature in September 2023 was 0.93° C warmer than the 1991–2020 average, breaking the previous record set in 2020 by a margin of 0.5° C. This…Continue readingThe jump in global temperatures in September 2023 is difficult to explain by natural climate variability alone
The World Meteorological Organisation confirmed on Tuesday that continental Europe recorded in 2021 its highest ever temperature of 48.8 degrees Celsius (119.8 Fahrenheit), and warned that new extremes were…Continue readingUN confirms Europe hit record high temperature in 2021
In one of the first of several teams of science agencies to calculate how off-the-charts warm 2023 was, the European climate agency Copernicus said the year was 1.48 degrees…Continue readingEarth shattered global heat record in ’23 and it’s flirting with warming limit
New analysis finds the last time the air contained 420 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide was between 14-16 million years ago, when there was no ice in…Continue readingCurrent carbon dioxide levels last seen 14 million years ago
Many of the gravest threats to humanity are drawing closer, as carbon pollution heats the planet to ever more dangerous levels, scientists have warned. Five important natural thresholds already…Continue readingEarth on verge of five catastrophic climate tipping points, scientists warn
Simultaneous episodes of extreme heat and drought could occur earlier and repeatedly in Europe, reports a study published in Communications Earth & Environment. Laura Suarez-Gutierrez and colleagues investigated how…Continue reading‘End of century’ extreme heat and drought conditions in Europe could occur much earlier than previously thought
The number of listed threatened species in Australia’s world heritage northern rainforests has increased by 25% since 2020, as ecologists say they are now clearly observing the long-predicted impacts…Continue readingQueensland’s wet tropics see 25% rise in threatened species in three years as climate change bites
Total global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2020 were 54.5GtCO2e, and grew to 57.4 in 2022. The emissions gap for 2030 is defined as the differencebetween the estimated total…Continue readingEmissions Gap Report 2023
According to a new paper by scientists from a dozen institutions, the world’s average temperature will surpass 1.5°C above preindustrial times within the next several years—much faster than most…Continue readingWorld temperatures will blow past Paris goals this decade
Heat waves have always been part of summer, but the familiar short periods of oppressive conditions have grown into weeks to months of sweltering heat. Research has shown that…Continue readingHere are the places that could become too hot for humans due to climate change
According to a new paper in Oxford Open Climate Change, the strategies humanity must pursue to reduce climate change will have to include more than reducing greenhouse gases. This…Continue readingResearchers argue that reducing greenhouse gas emissions is not enough to combat climate change
The remainin budget for a reliable chance (83%) of not exceeding 1.5˚C global warming has been expended – After making all these changes, our best (50%) RCB estimate starting…Continue readingRemaining Carbon Budget
The deadly heat in central South America over the past two months was made 100 times more likely by human emissions that disrupted the climate, scientists have shown. Temperatures…Continue readingHuman emissions made deadly South American heat 100 times more likely
If global temperatures increase by 2°C above pre-industrial levels, the 2.2 billion residents of Pakistan and India’s Indus River Valley, the one billion people living in eastern China and…Continue readingClimate-driven extreme heat may make parts of Earth too hot for humans
Antarctica has likely broken a new record for the lowest annual maximum amount of sea ice around the continent, beating the previous low by a million square kilometres. The…Continue readingAntarctic sea ice shrinks to lowest annual maximum level on record
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
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
Risks are cascading and underestimated, new climate extremes recorded, and the conclusion.Continue readingFaster, higher, hotter: What we learned about the climate system in 2022: Part 3
2°C degrees is not a point of system stability, we are heading towards 3°C or more, and system-level change and tipping points are happening faster than forecast.Continue readingFaster, higher, hotter: What we learned about the climate system in 2022: Part 2