Hot, Dry Still
July 29 — Meteorologists say do not blame global warming for the hot, dry spell over the mid-Atlantic states this summer. Jerry Mahlman, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration?s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory says that there is global warming, but you cannot see it by looking at the weather in New York City. (Kenneth Chang, ABCNEWS.com)

Sizzling Summer Not Hot Proof of Global Warming
July 28 — Sizzling temperatures are blamed for dozens of deaths in the United States. Jim St. John, a meteorologist at the Georgia Institute of Technology, says that a heat wave does not necessarily tell us anything about climate change. (Natalie Pawelski and Paul Dykstra, CNN)

Scientists Shaking Up Colorado
July 27 — Scientists at the University of Colorado are blasting the underground crust of Colorado to learn how volcanic islands became the Rocky Mountains. From Wyoming to New Mexico, scientists will bury over one thousand seismic instruments to gather data that will let them map what underground Colorado looks like. (Bill Scanlon, Denver Rocky Mountain News)

Carbon Dioxide Shakes Off Its Pursuers
July 24 — A new study discounts findings published last year by Princeton University scientists that the United States may be acting as a carbon sponge to draw carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. Scientists at Woods Hole Research Center tested Princeton University’s findings and concluded that during the 1980s only a small percentage of carbon dioxide produced in the United States was actually absorbed. (Richard Monastersky, Science News)

Clouds’ Illusions Attract Ocean Weather
July 23 — Scientists at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center will attempt to identify exactly what clouds are made of this weekend. The experiment in conjunction with NASA’s Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission will study clouds over an atoll in the Pacific Ocean called Kwajalein. Scientists will compare clouds over the atoll to clouds over land to learn more about the dynamics of clouds. (Robin Lloyd, CNN Interactive)

Flood Cooled Atmosphere in Ice Age
July 22 — Global warming can lead to cold weather, says climate researchers. In a report published in the journal Nature, University of Colorado and Canadian researchers describe a 8,200 year old flood scenario that demonstrates how global warming can melt glaciers causing a flood of cold water that could lead to a global atmosphere cooling. (Associated Press)

Ocean Fever Heralds Epidemics
July 17 — Researchers at Goddard Space Flight Center have found that the early signs of an El Niño in the Pacific Ocean may also give an early warning about outbreaks of Rift Valley Fever in Africa. Based on records of viral attacks and ocean temperatures from 1950 until the present, researchers found a consistent pattern they can use to predict future outbreaks. (Richard Monastersky, Science News)

Does a Globe-Girdling Disturbance Jigger El Niño?
July 16 — In 1997, one computer model after another predicted the El Niño 1997-1998, but the warming associated with El Niño was several times stronger than they predicted. Since then, Michael McPhaden of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says that the Madden-Julian Oscillation, which sends bursts of warm winds across the western Pacific, does not cause El Niño, but it does determine the strength of an El Niño. (Richard A. Kerr, Science).

New Evidence Heats Up Climate Debate
July 15 — Global warming has not stopped, but it is not happening as quickly as scientists thought. Scientists expected the growth rate of heat-trapping greenhouse gases to accelerate, instead it has declined by 25 percent since 1980. With the launch of NASA?s Earth Observing System satellite, Terra, scientists will be able to continually monitor the Earth. (Robert C. Cowen, The Christian Science Monitor)

Corals in Hot Water
July 15 — Researchers at the University of Georgia have found one reason why some of the world?s coral reefs are dying. The researchers point to rising global ocean temperatures that reduce photosynthesis in coral reefs as one cause in the bleaching of the reefs.(Lee Dye, ABC News)

Sahara Turned To Desert in Abrupt Climate Change
July 15 — A few thousand years ago because of an increase in air temperature and a decrease in rainfall, the grasslands of North Africa turned into desert. In a report in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, a team of German analyzed computer models of climate over the past several thousand years and concluded that the Sahara desert was created by changes in the Earth’s orbit and the tilt of Earth’s axis. (Associated Press)

African Dust Settles in Miami
July 13 — Take a breath in Miami this summer and chances are you will inhale a bit of Africa. In a paper published in the Journal of Geophysical Research, Joseph M. Prosper of the University of Miami reports that on some summer days as much as half of the dust in Miami?s air is from Africa. Prospero notes that little research has been done about the health effects of dust in the air. (Associated Press)

Flights Could Be Helping Make Earth's Skies More Unfriendly
July 12 — Researchers at NASA’s Langley Research Center have found that contrails, the condensation trails left by aircraft, may be contributing to global warming. In a paper in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, Patrick Minnis has studied how the contrails trap more of the sun’s heat near Earth’s surface. (Alexandra Witze, Dallas Morning News)

Quenched Fire Found in Greenland Ice
July 10 — Researchers at the University of New Hampshire have found volcanic debris in an ice core in Greenland that originated from the explosion of Mount Mazama in Oregon more than 7,000 years ago. In a report published in Geology, the researchers estimate that Mount Mazama injected up to 224 million tons of sulfuric acid into the atmosphere during the eruption. (Richard Monastersky, Science News)

NASA Satellites May 'Revolutionize' Earth Sciences
July 9 — Most climatologists would agree that the Earth has warmed sharply during the past century, and that human activity is responsible at least in part. Over the next four years NASA?s Earth Observing System will launch a fleet of 26 satellites to measure Earth's climatic system in greater detail and more comprehensively than ever before. (Kim A. McDonald, The Chronicle of Higher Education)

Global Warming to Ravage World's Coral
July 5 — Global warming will ruin the world's coral reefs by early in the new millennium and could eliminate them from most areas by 2100 according to a report by Coral Reef Director, Ove Hoeg-Guldberg. Rising temperatures will systematically bleach and kill the reefs unless action is taken to reverse global warming says a biologist and coral specialist at Sydney University. (Reuters)

Reading the Leaves for Climate Clues
July 3 — Mummified birch leaves are haunting scientists who are trying to piece together the history of carbon dioxide. For the first time, scientists are able to trace short-term variations in carbon dioxide. Other scientists argue, however, that ice-core studies are a more reliable carbon dioxide measure. (Richard Monastersky, Science News)

La Niña Stirs Weather Extremes
July 3 — La Ni�a has contributed to the drought in the mid-Atlantic states and will cause an unusually strong hurricane season in the Atlantic according to scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Scientists predict that La Ni�a will persist into early 2000. (Richard Monastersky, Science News)

Lack of Icebergs Another Sign of Global Warming
July 2 — For the first time in 85 years, the International Ice Patrol did not issue any bulletins about potential icebergs. John Wallace, a meteorologist at University of Washington, says that since the 1980s winter temperatures have risen 0.5 degrees Celsius. (Bernice Wuethrich, Science)

Ozone-Depleting Gases Are Not Natural
July 2 — Most of the gases responsible for stratospheric ozone depletion are produced by human activities. Federal and university scientists analyzed the air trapped in polar snowpacks in Antarctica and Greenland and found that major ozone-depleting gases were produced from human emissions and not from the natural contributions of volcanoes. (CNN Interactive)

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