Global Warming Expected to Raise Hurricane Intensity
September 30 — Global warming is likely to produce a significant increase in the intensity and rainfall of hurricanes in coming decades, according to an analysis. (New York Times)

Toxic Algae Bloom Seen Off Washington Coast
September 29 — An unusually large toxic bloom of algae, which could poison humans and taint shellfish, has been detected in the ocean off the northwest coast of Washington state, oceanographers say. (Reuters)

Parade of Hurricanes Erode Florida Beaches
September 29 — Many of Florida's beaches have taken on a different look after this year's parade of hurricanes finished shifting, eroding or completely relocating tons of sand, leading to a complicated and costly problem say coastal experts. (Associated Press)

Greenhouse Gas Rising Over Antarctica
September 28 — A group of Japanese researchers has found that carbon dioxide levels over the Antarctic rose by over 2.6 percent from six years ago � the first such detection of an increase in a "greenhouse" gas above the southern continent. (Associated Press)

Quake Hits California 11 Years Late
September 28 — More than 11 years after scientists predicted it would occur a strong earthquake rocked the central California town of Parkfield, triggering almost 200 aftershocks. (Associated Press)

Storm Season's Second Phase Not Far Away
September 28 — For Florida's wind-weary residents, 2004-10-010 is an important date in the hurricane season it signifies when the climate in the Atlantic generally changes and moves hurricanes into the Caribbean, but forecasters fear this year may be different. (Christian Science Monitor)

Global Warming is Flooding Villages along the Coast
September 27 — As Alaska's climate warms, the permafrost beneath the beaches is thawing and the sea ice is thinning, leaving many increasingly vulnerable to violent storms. (Time)

Engineers Use Hurricanes to Study Houses
September 26 — When a hurricane makes landfall in the continental United States, engineers with the Florida Coastal Monitoring Program are out evaluating which construction methods best protect homes from the tremendous wind forces the storms deliver. (Associated Press)

Haitian Floods Due to Deforestation
September 24 — Flooding by tropical storm Jeanne in Haiti may have been worsened by changes in the landscape. (CBS News)

Folded Ice Discovered Beneath Antarctica
September 23 — Glaciers in Antarctica are thinning faster than they did in the 1990s and researchers have discovered an unexpected folded section deep beneath the ice cap, findings that may indicate the ice is less stable than had been thought. (Associated Press)

California Regulators Weigh Smog Restrictions
September 23 — California air regulators have adopted the world's most ambitious rules to reduce car emissions that contribute to global warming, an effort that could have a sweeping effect on how the United States fights vehicle pollution. (Associated Press)

West Antarctic Glaciers Speed Up
September 22 — U.S.-Chilean teams report that glaciers are losing 60% more ice into the Amundsen Sea than they accumulate from inland snowfall. (BBC, Reuters)

The Deafening Sound of the Seas
September 22 — The world's oceans are now so saturated with noise that whales and other marine mammals are dying, biologists say. (BBC)

Scientists Find Surprising Polar Life
September 22 — Colonies of microorganisms found thriving under rocks at the north and south poles are evidence that life can exist in harsh areas on Earth which may mimic conditions on Mars, say scientists. (Reuters)

Acid Rain Pollution Up 4 Percent in 2003
September 22 — Emissions of sulfur dioxide, which causes acid rain, rose 4 percent in 2003, but probably will not compromise long-term air quality goals, say U.S. government officials. (Associated Press)

Antarctic Glaciers Melting Faster
September 21 — Glaciers once held up by a floating ice shelf off Antarctica are now sliding off into the sea, and they are going fast, according to a NASA-funded study. (Reuters)

Warming May Be Less Severe in Central U.S.
September 21 — Anticipated global warming by mid-century may be less severe in the central U.S. than elsewhere in the country, researchers say. (Associated Press)

Western States Dodged Wildfire Threats This Summer
September 21 — Better weather, ready personnel, and a more aware public softened the toll of wildfire in the lower 48 states this fire season. (Christian Science Monitor)

Indian Monsoon Seen Below Normal on El Niño Effect
September 21 — India's monsoon is expected to be 12 to 14 percent below normal in the June-2004-09-season, mainly because of an El Niño-like weather condition, says an Indian weather official. (Reuters)

UN Agency Warns of Africa Locust Crisis
September 21 — Swarms of desert locusts are moving across northwest Africa, threatening to devastate crops in an increasing number of countries, U.N. officials warn. (Associated Press)

Perhaps We'll Be Tan San Francisco
September 20 — Under global warming scenarios, the foggy city may transform into a murderously hot one by 2050. (San Francisco Chronicle)

Group: Ivan Damaged Gulf Barrier Islands
September 19 — Hurricane Ivan's storm surge and pounding waves swamped the barrier islands that stand guard along the central Gulf of Mexico coast, eroding their protective sand and causing millions of dollars in damage, coastal experts say. (Associated Press)

Mussels Found Near North Pole in Global Warming Sign
September 17 — Mussels have been found growing on the seabed just 800 miles from the North Pole in a likely sign of global warming, say scientists. (Reuters)

Hurricane Ivan Slams Gulf Coast
September 16 — Hurricane Ivan drilled the Gulf Coast with 130-mph winds that inflicted far less damage than feared, except Florida's Panhandle, where residents were left with surge-ravaged beachfronts, flooded streets and homes ripped apart by deadly tornadoes. (Associated Press)

Supercomputers Aid Hurricane Forecasting
September 16 — The programs that model the atmosphere and the high-performance computers that do this work have revolutionized weather forecasting, improving our ability to predict the paths of hurricanes and fluctuations in their intensity. (Associated Press)

UN Seeks Linit on Pesticide Harming Ozone Layer
September 16 — The world should crack down further on the use of the pesticide methyl bromide which is damaging the ozone layer, the U.N. Environment Program (UNEP) says. (Reuters)

Beating Drought
September 15 — Drought in the Southwest United States may become a long-term condition within decades, and some scientists believe removing the soil will help save water. (ABC News)

Will Climate Change Spark Fiercer Storms?
September 15 — Global warming will increase the temperature of ocean water that fuels hurricanes, leading to stronger winds, heavier rains and larger storm surges, researchers say. (Associated Press, Reuters)

Japan Volcano Erupts for Second Straight Day
September 15 — A volcano in central Japan spewed smoke into the sky as it erupted for a second straight day, but there were no immediate signs to suggest a major eruption was coming. (Reuters)

Air Pollution Hits Record Level in Hong Kong
September 15 — A new air pollution record in Hong Kong highlights the vulnerability of the city to pollution drifting from the rapidly industrializing Chinese mainland. (Reuters)

Scientists Say Mauna Loa May Soon Erupt
September 15 — Earthquakes have been rumbling more frequently deep beneath Mauna Loa, suggesting that the world's largest volcano is getting ready to erupt for the first time in 20 years, scientists say. (Associated Press)

Panel Says Great Lakes Plagued by Pollution
September 15 — Despite improvements in recent decades, the Great Lakes remain a dumping ground for pollution ranging from livestock waste to mercury emissions, a U.S.-Canadian panel says. (Associated Press)

Report: Heat to Cause More California Deaths
September 14 — Longer and more intense heat waves throughout California in the decades ahead will lead to more heat-related deaths in several major cities, according to a new report. (Associated Press)

Iraqi Scientists to Wage War on Pollution
September 13 — Iraqi scientists will assess pollution ranging from oil spills to scrap metal from destroyed military vehicles in an effort to tackle environmental damage in the war-ravaged country, the United Nations says. (Reuters)

Groups Work on Schemes to Stop Hurricanes
September 12 — The government's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory describes proposals to stop or weaken hurricanes as a long-shot: any effect would be small, and require thousands of tons of chemicals, flown into the storms in hundreds of sorties every half hour or so. (Associated Press)

Barrage of Florida Hurricanes May Just Be Florida Normality
September 10 — Florida has been in the crosshairs of this year's superheated hurricane activity, and experts say that, if you take a long-term view of weather, the natural rhythm of cyclone strikes is just reasserting itself after a decades-long break. (Reuters)

Frances Destroys Sea Turtle Nests
September 10 — Hurricane Frances destroyed thousands of sea turtle nests as the storm tore through their most important beaches in the middle of the nesting season, biologists say. (Associated Press)

Record Seventh Typhoon Buffets Japan
September 9 — Japan's typhoon record is broken as battering winds and mountainous waves from a major typhoon overturn ocean-going freighters. (New York Times)

Extinction May Have Trickle-Down Effect
September 9 — Conservationists concerned about the extinction of plants and animals may be overlooking the danger to thousands of other species that depend on the threatened ones. (Associated Press)

Oceans to Acid
September 9 — Oceans act as giant sponges for carbon dioxide, but what eases global warming harms marine life. (Christian Science Monitor)

Maryland Geologist Completes Sinkhole Study
September 9 — A geologist who spent four years traipsing in and around Frederick, Maryland, has mapped areas most likely to develop sinkholes, depressions in the Earth that appear suddenly, swallowing cars and homes. (Associated Press)

Fifteen U.S. Agencies to Share Earth Science Data
September 8 — The White House has told 15 federal agencies to better share scientific data about the Earth among themselves and with other nations. (Associated Press)

Battered Florida Counts the Cost after Frances
September 8 — Floridians are counting the cost of Hurricane Frances' long, destructive path through the state; damage could top $5 billion. (Reuters)

Met Office Unveils a Supercomputer
September 7 — The Met Office (UK) is celebrating 150 years by unveiling a new supercomputer which they predict will put them at the forefront of weather forecasting. (BBC)

Hectic Hurricane Season Hints at Things to Come
September 7 — Some studies, based on computer modeling, indicate that hurricanes could become more intense if sea surface temperatures rise in accordance with long-term climate change, but scientists say it's too soon to blame global warming. (MSNBC)

New Fissure Opens on Etna Volcano
September 7 — A new fissure has yawned open on the southeastern side of Sicily's Mount Etna volcano, oozing out enough lava to cross a city block, say researchers. (Associated Press)

Scientist: Extreme Weather Will Kill Millions
September 7 — Millions of people across the globe are set to die early due to extreme weather events such as floods and heat waves caused by climate change, a British scientist says. (Reuters)

North Pole Had Sub-Tropical Seas
September 7 — The North Pole once had a balmy, sub-tropical sea because of extreme global warming, according to European scientists who have carried out the world's deepest drilling into ancient sediment on the far northern seabed. (Reuters)

UK Moths Reveal 35-Year Decline
September 7 — British moths are in serious trouble, possibly because of changing climate, says researcher. (BBC)

Moderate Earthquake Shakes Western Japan
September 6 — A moderate earthquake shakes Western Japan, just two days after over 40 people were injured when two strong quakes hit the region. (Reuters)

Hurricanes Bring Environmental Renewal
September 6 — Along with their destructive force, hurricanes can have beneficial effects by refreshing waterways, reviving dry areas, and redistributing sand on barrier islands. (Associated Press)

Several Communities Eye Wind Power
September 5 — Wind power projects are in various stages around Massachusetts, from the Atlantic Coast to the wooded slopes of the Berkshire Mountains. (Associated Press)

Scientists Study Algae Growth in New Jersey Bays
September 5 — Ocean researchers are conducting studies on New Jersey's bays, which have been beset by algae whose growth is fostered by fertilizers and other pollution. (Associated Press)

Too Late to Stop Global Warming, Says Expert
September 4 — Earth will continue to get hotter even if we reduce our output of greenhouse gases, says a top American climate change expert. (The Dominion Post, New Zealand)

Global Warming Thaws Arctic, Divides Government
September 3 — Global warming is set to accelerate in the Arctic and bring drastic change for people and wildlife in coming decades, according to a draft report that has opened cracks among nations in the region about how to slow the thaw. (Reuters)

Millions Warned to Flee Florida Hurricane
September 2 — Residents and tourists in cars, trucks and campers clogged highways in the biggest evacuation ever ordered in Florida, fleeing inland as mighty Hurricane Frances threatened the state with its second battering in three weeks. (Associated Press)

Iran Plans to Launch Satellite by May 2005
September 2 — An Iran-produced satellite, to be used for weather forecasting and locating natural resources, will be launched next year, say officials. (Reuters)

Soya Boom Threat to South America
September 2 — The spiraling foreign demand for soya beans could mean the loss of millions of hectares of forest and savannah in South America, conservationists warn. (BBC, Reuters)

A Voracious World
September 2 — Some regions — especially in Asia — are overusing their renewable resources. (Christian Science Monitor)

Report Details Global Warming's Role in Wildfire Risk
September 1 — Of all the Western states, Montana's wildfire season could be most affected by the warmer temperatures associated with global climate change, according to a new report. (The Missoulan)

Maine Has Best Ozone Year on Record
September 1 — Maine violated federal ozone standards only once during the summer, the state's best showing in more than 20 years of record-keeping. (Associated Press)

Need for Carbon Sink Technologies
September 1 — Governments should consider setting lower targets for levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and investigate ways to extract surplus amounts of the greenhouse gas from circulation, say climate scientists. (BBC)

Acid Oceans Spell Doom for Coral
September 1 — The increasing acidity of the world's oceans could banish all coral by 2065, a leading marine expert has warned. (BBC)

Volcano Erupts in Central Japan
September 1 — A volcano in central Japan has erupted, spitting cinders and glowing red at its tip, but the scale of the eruption was minor and no evacuation was necessary, officials say. (Reuters)

NASA's Newest Foe: Hurricane Frances
September 1 — NASA may soon have to deal with a new set of problems in its tedious, time-consuming and expensive quest to return the space shuttles to flight: the aftermath of Hurricane Frances. (DiscoveryChannel.com)

China to Launch Three Satellites
September 1 — China plans to launch three weather monitoring satellites to help detect forest fires and sandstorms and monitor climate change. (Reuters)

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