Earth Observatory Home NASA Earth Observatory Home Data and Images Features News Reference Missions Experiments Search
NASA's Earth Observatory
 Earth Observatory Navigation Bar
Turn glossary mode on News

  In the Headlines Archive
Stories that have recently appeared in the popular press, television, and radio.

Effects of Global Warming "Clearly Visible"
March 27 — A team of international researchers published a study in Nature that reveals many of the world?s plants and animals are already experiencing extensive disruptions because of global warming. (Reuters)

NASA Wrestles With Balky Terra Instrument
March 27 — NASA's satellite operators successfully worked to reboot a critical sensor about the agency's Terra satellite, that monitors the Earth. (Space.com)

How Cold Was Earth in the Beginning?
March 27 — Harvard researchers say several lines of evidence support the "snowball Earth" hypothesis, including glacial deposits at sea level near the equator. (Cosmiverse.com)

Antarctica Melting from Below
March 27 — Water flowing from the Siberian River into the Arctic Sea is changing its salinity and stability, and warming the water under the Arctic ice, thinning it. (BBC News and Cosmiverse.com)

Ice Continent on the Move
March 25 — For the first time, satellites have mapped Antarctica, revealing that the continent is in constant motion. (Cosmiverse.com)

Tree-ring Study Raises Greenhouse-theory Questions
March 22 — Researchers studying tree rings say that an unusually warm period a millennium ago may have been part of a natural planetary cycle. Their study scrutinizes the link between human activity and climate change. (Associated Press)

Pollen Levels and Allergies to Rise Significantly
March 21 — A report by Harvard University researchers says that rising carbon dioxide levels associated with global warming could lead to an increase in the incidence of allergies to ragweed and other plants by mid-century. (Cosmiverse.com, United Press International)

Global Warming Blamed as Huge Antarctic Ice Shelf Collapses
March 19 — In what is being touted as the biggest of its kind in 30 years, an Antarctic ice shelf has collapsed and broken up into thousands of icebergs. (SpaceDaily)

Recent Shifts in Pacific Winds May Support El Nino Formation
March 18 — Wind data for the Pacific Ocean obtained by NASA's Quick Scatterometer spacecraft?also known as Quickscat?are documenting episodes of reversed trade winds that may be a precursor of a future El Nino. (SpaceDaily)

Russia Launches Satellites on US-German Climate Mission
March 17 — Two satellites on a joint US-German mission to research the Earth's climate and gravitational pull were successfully launched Sunday by a Russian rocket, Russian news agencies said. (SpaceDaily)

Climate Change Starves Southern Ocean of Oxygen
March 15 — The southern ocean that circulates around the Antarctic is being slowly starved of oxygen, and is the key to the health of oceans around the world. according to Australian scientists. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation news on-line)

Drought Bringing Early Allergies
March 14 — The dry, warm winter in the northeastern U.S. has led to an early increase in pollination of trees, causing early problems for allergy sufferers in that region. (Fox News)

How's the Weather?
March 14 — NASA/Goddard Institute for Space Studies and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found that global temperatures in January were 1.24 degrees Fahrenheit above the long-term average, making it the warmest January since record-keeping began. (Gristmagazine.com)

More Carbon Dioxide Effects Plants Ability to Use Nitrogen
March 12 — A study by the University of California at Davis found that increased levels of carbon dioxide limit the amount of nitrate that plants process. Higher carbon dioxide levels are forcing changes in use of fertilizers. (GreenNature.com)

Global Warming May Not Harm Marine Food
March 8 — Global warming may not deplete the Antarctic population of shrimp-like krill that serves as the basis for the marine food chain. (Reuters)

Why It's Dry
March 7 — As forecasting improves, states may soon be able to prepare for droughts as many now do for hurricanes and earthquakes. (Christian Science Monitor)

Signs of New El Niño Strengthen
March 7 — The signs are strengthening that the world is heading into a return of the El Niño weather phenomenon. (ABC News.com, CNN.com, Space Daily, AP)

NASA Study Links El Niño and Antarctic Sea Ice
March 6 — The global weather pattern known as El Niño, which begins in the tropical Pacific, may be connected with changes in the sea ice around distant Antarctica, according to scientists. (USA Today, Space Daily, Wissenschaft-online, Weather.com, AP, Cosmiverse, SF Gate, ABC News.com, Boston.com)

'Snowball Earth' Theory Melted
March 6 — Geoscientists in Scotland say they have found evidence to disprove the controversial "Snowball Earth" theory, a claim that the Earth was completely frozen for as long as 10 million years. (BBC News)

Global Warming Stalks Small Commonwealth States
March 5 — Small Commonwealth states fear global warming could cause a catastrophic flood of migrants from Pacific and Indian Ocean islands. (Space Daily)

Global Warming Creates Grim Future for Forests
March 5 — Global warming is becoming an increasing threat to forests in much of the world, paving the way for fires, droughts and pest infestations. (Reuters)

Global Warming Threatening State Birds?
March 5 — Washington's state bird, the willow goldfinch, could vanish from the state late this century because of dramatic changes in migration patterns and declining habitats strongly influenced by global warming. (Seattle Times, The Washington Post)

Global Warming to Raise Sea Level
March 5 — New calculations suggest that glacier melt could raise sea levels to drastic heights in the 21st century. (Nature.com, Environmental News Network)

Future Volcanic Eruptions May Cause Ozone Hole Arctic
March 4 — An 'ozone hole' could form over the North Pole after future major volcanic eruptions, according to a NASA scientist. (UPI, Space Daily, Cosmiverse, Ananova, Spaceflight Now, Green Nature, Wissenschaft-online)

Ozone Layer Will Thin Even as Holes Heal
March 2 — A new study suggests that even as the ozone holes over the poles heal, ozone levels in mid-latitudes, where the majority of the world?s population lives, are set to worsen later this decade. (New Scientist)

Drought Grips Much of USA, Stirs Water Supply Fears
March 2 — Drought has engulfed nearly a third of the U.S., threatening to confront some places this summer with what experts say could be their worst water shortages in years. (USA Today, AP)

Global Alarm Bells Ring as Signs of El Nino Mount
March 1 — In recent weeks, the world?s top meteorologists have said that the odds are shortening for a recurrence of El Nino. (Reuters)

Back to: News

 
For the month of:
2008
    September
    August
    July
    June
    May
    April
    March
    February
    January
2007
    December
    November
    October
    September
    August
    July
    June
    May
    April
    March
    February
    January
2006
    December
    November
    October
    September
    August
    July
    June
    May
    April
    March
    February
    January
2005
    December
    November
    October
    September
    August
    July
    June
    May
    April
    March
    February
    January
    December
2004
    December
    November
    October
    September
    August
    July
    June
    May
    April
    March
    February
    January
2003
    December
    November
    October
    September
    August
    July
    June
    May
    April
    March
    February
    January
2002
    December
    November
    October
    September
    August
    July
    June
    May
    April
    March
    February
    January
2001
    December
    November
    October
    September
    August
    July
    June
    May
    April
    March
    February
    January
2000
    December
    November
    October
    September
    August
    July
    June
    May
    April
    March
    February
    January
1999
    December
    November
    October
    September
    August
    July
    June
    May
    April
    March
    February

    December

 
 

   
Subscribe to the Earth Observatory
About the Earth Observatory
Contact Us
Privacy Policy and Important Notices
Responsible NASA Official: Lorraine A. Remer
Webmaster: Goran Halusa
We're a part of the Science Mission Directorate