Southeast Asia Must Work Closer to Avert Tsunami Disaster
April 30 — Indonesia's rumbling Mount Merapi is spewing volcanic ash, magma has fully covered its crater, and a powerful eruption could come any day, a scientist said. (Associated Press)

Violent Storms Lash Malaysia as the Country Becomes Warmer
April 30 — Rising temperatures from global warming are creating violent storms in Malaysia which have killed several people and set buildings ablaze, a report said. (AFP)

Cyclone Mala Kills Two in Myanmar
April 29 — Cyclone Mala killed at least two people in Myanmar and damaged hundreds of homes and several factories before petering out, state media and the Red Cross said. (Reuters)

NASA Cloud Satellite Blasts Off
April 28 — After a series of delays, a pair of NASA satellites blasted off early on a mission to study how clouds affect weather and climate. (Associated Press)

Tsunami Network on Lookout for Giant Waves
April 28 — More than 200,000 people perished when a monstrous wave swept the Indian Ocean in 2004 and in hopes of avoiding a similar disaster here, a tsunami warning system has now been expanded to both coasts of the United States. (Associated Press)

Report Says U.S. Air Quality Has Improved in Past Decade
April 28 — U.S. residents can breathe a bit easier than they did a decade ago, as the number of days that air quality was deemed unhealthy has fallen, according to a report by the American Lung Association. (Reuters)

Climate Research Paints Mixed Picture
April 27 — New studies into climate change hold out contrasting news, confirming that the greenhouse effect has disrupted the global water cycle over the past century, but also suggesting some coral species may adapt to the warming threat. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Study: Lightning Strikes in Strange Ways
April 26 — There are at least five ways lightning can kill you, and the most maligned of these -- a direct bolt from the blue -- is probably the least common, say lightning researchers. (Discovery.com)

Sea Turtle Deaths Rising in Southwest Florida
April 25 — An increase in sea turtle deaths so far this year has scientists concerned that remnants of the deadly 2005 red tide is lingering off the southwest Florida coast. (Associated Press)

Clearer Hurricane Warnings Needed, Experts Say
April 25 — Weather forecasters need to do a better job of translating their scientific data about threatening hurricanes into better-understood warnings, several experts said at a conference. (Reuters)

Experts: Global Warming Behind 2005 Hurricanes
April 24 — The record Atlantic hurricane season last year can be attributed to global warming, several top experts, including a leading U.S. government storm researcher, said. (Reuters)

Spanish Summers Could Be 5-7 Degrees Hotter
April 24 — Summer temperatures in Spain already reach 113 degrees Fahrenheit in some parts, but they could rise by another 5 to 7 degrees this century as global warming increases, a climate expert said. (Reuters)

Earthly Gamma Rays: Lightning Trigger?
April 24 — New research with an array of ground-based and space-borne instruments shows gamma ray sources are found much deeper in the Earth's atmosphere than previously thought - in intense thunderstorms. (Discovery.com)

Mountains Grow Larger With Help from Erosion, Scientist Says
April 24 — Mountains eroded by the wind and rain can actually grow larger, a Canadian geophysicist says, who is the first to predict that events on the Earth's surface can affect geological processes hundreds of miles below. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Asian Pollution May Harm Washington Air
April 24 — Pollution from Asian power plants and smoke from burning Siberian forests may be adding to poor air quality in Washington state, scientists say. (Associated Press)

Rumbling Java Volcano May Erupt, Warns Geologist
April 23 — Data gathered from Indonesia's Mount Merapi indicates a strong likelihood of a major eruption, a geologist has warned. (AFP)

Cyclone Monica Bears Down on Remote Australian Communities
April 23 — Residents of remote communities in northern Australia have taken shelter as a massive cyclone packing destructive winds of up to 200 miles an hour bore down on them. (AFP)

Southeast Europe Battles to Prevent New Floods
April 23 — More than a week after the River Danube reached its highest level in a century, southeastern Europe was still battling to prevent further devastating floods. (AFP)

NASA Delays Launch of 3-D Cloud Satellites
April 23 — NASA delayed the launch of a pair of NASA satellites designed to give scientists their first three-dimensional view of clouds. (Associated Press)

Backyards May Play Role in Climate Change
April 22 — Scientists studying neighborhoods in Baltimore are now trying to figure out whether backyards are also helping absorb some of the carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere, and by so doing, slowing the pace of climate change. (NPR)

Scientists Warn of Threat to Coral Reefs
April 22 — Warmer sea temperatures could worsen the widespread destruction of coral reefs that hit the Caribbean in 2005, scientists fear. (Associated Press)

Group Calls River Second 'Most Endangered'
April 21 — A conservation group is calling an 80-mile stretch of the Yellowstone River in Park County, Montana, the second "most endangered river" in the United States because of development and bank stabilization projects. (Associated Press)

Major Earthquake in Russia Injures 33
April 21 — A major earthquake shook a sparsely populated region of Russia's Far East, damaging buildings and sending residents fearful their homes might collapse into subfreezing temperatures outside. (Associated Press)

Exhibit Captures Sounds of Earth Moving
April 21 — In any given instant, one or more rocky plates beneath Earth's surface are in motion, and now visitors to a California museum exhibit can hear virtually every big and small earthquake simultaneously in just a few seconds of real time. (Discovery.com)

Polar Bears Will Be Extinct Within 25 Years: Scientist
April 21 — Polar bears will be extinct within 25 years as global warming shrinks the ice cover they depend on for feeding and giving birth, says a renowned Australian scientist. (Canadian Press)

Asian Pollution May Harm Washington Air
April 21 — Pollution from Asian power plants and smoke from burning Siberian forests may be adding to poor air quality in Washington state, scientists say. (Associated Press)

Volcano Eruption Triggers Acid Rain in Southern Peru
April 21 — The Ubinas volcano in southern Peru is spewing out clouds of gas and sulfur and threatening some 3,500 local inhabitants with acid rain. (AFP)

Belching Peru Volcano Sparks Alarm
April 20 — A volcano in southern Peru threw plumes of smoke high into the sky, prompting authorities to declare an "orange alert" to encourage villagers to evacuate the area. (Reuters)

Wealth of Unique NASA Data Helps Answer 'What On Earth'?
April 20 — Beyond scientific research, the data from NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) data centers, called Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAAC), is used in ecological and weather forecasting, responding to natural disasters, coastal management, agricultural forecasting, and air and water quality management. (SpaceRef.com)

Climate Change Will Be Significant but Not Extreme, Study Predicts
April 20 — Earth will experience significant climate change in the coming century as a result of greenhouse gas buildups, but the more extreme estimates of global warming generated by some studies are unlikely to occur, according to newly published research. (The Washington Post)

San Andreas Rumblings Mystify Scientists
April 20 — Mysterious rumblings detected inside and above the San Andreas Fault at Parkfield, California, have seismologists scrambling for answers, some of which might point to a new way to forecast earthquakes. (Discovery.com)

Hurricanes Could Cause Tsunami Threat
April 20 — Researchers say hurricanes can pile up sediment underwater that could then slip, causing a tsunami. (Nature)

China Labors to Spot Spread of Deserts
April 20 — China's efforts to stop the spread of its deserts are reducing the severity of sandstorms like the one that dumped yellow grit as far away as Japan this week, but the problem cannot be entirely controlled, officials said. (Associated Press)

Sending 'Weather Balloons' Up - Way Up
April 20 — New satellites, collectively called the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (COSMIC), will use signals from global navigation satellites to measure key traits in the atmosphere with unprecedented coverage and accuracy. (Christian Science Monitor)

Pacific and Atlantic Oceans Merged Earlier Than Previously Believed
April 20 — The Pacific and Atlantic oceans were separated by a giant landmass once, but then a chink formed in this super-continent and their waters intermingled; now new fossil dating reveals this occurred about 41 million years ago, much earlier than some scientists had estimated. (LiveScience.com)

Yellow Dust Storm Hits Korean Peninsula
April 19 — A sand storm that covered homes and streets in the Chinese capital with a brownish-yellow dust has clogged the air over the Korean peninsula, weather officials said. (Reuters)

Vast Plumbing Network Discovered Beneath Antarctica
April 19 — An intricate network of channels beneath Antarctica's ice sheets could allow water, and possibly life, to shuttle from one underground lake to another, a new study suggests. (LiveScience.com)

Global Warming Hits Canada's Remotest Arctic Lands
April 19 — Even in one of the most inhospitable parts of Canada's High Arctic, you cannot escape the signs of global warming: polar bears hang around on land longer than they used to, waiting for ice to freeze; the eternal night which blankets the region for three months is less dark; and animal species that the local Inuit aboriginal population had never heard of are now appearing. (Reuters)

USGS Releases Online California Quake Maps
April 19 — The U.S. Geological Survey released new online maps of the San Francisco Bay area that show the region's geologic history and active earthquake faults. (Associated Press)

U.S. Unprepared for Next Great Quake
April 18 — Scientists say some U.S. cities, including Seattle, Memphis, and New York, might experience a devastating earthquake in the relatively near future and many of these locations have relatively weak building code standards. (LiveScience.com)

Engineers Work on Quake-Proof Buildings
April 18 — Sometime in the not-so-distant future, newly constructed buildings will be able to withstand earthquakes of the magnitude that destroyed San Francisco one century ago, scientists say. (Associated Press)

Concern over Quake Impact on California Levees
April 18 — Government officials said on the 100th anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake that they are concerned about the threat posed by quakes and floods to the levees in California's delta. (Reuters)

Taiwan Moves Closer to Mainland, Pulled by Forces that Molded Its Mountains
April 18 — Scientists report that millimeter by millimeter, the same colossal forces that molded Taiwan's steep mountains -- and that unleash its earthquakes -- are narrowing parts of the Taiwan Strait, bringing the island ever closer to the mainland. (The New York Times)

Weather Satellite to Monitor South America
April 17 — South American meteorologists are getting a boost from space: A U.S. weather satellite long used for tracking hurricanes and other wild weather will soon be moved over a continent plagued by its own costly natural disasters. (Associated Press)

Spain's Carbon Dioxide Emissions Rise
April 17 — Spain's carbon dioxide emissions rose nearly 48 percent between 1990 and 2004, over two percentage points higher than an earlier calculation, the Environment Ministry said. (Reuters)

Danube Reaches Peak in Balkans, Dykes in Danger
April 17 — The Danube peaked at record highs in Serbia without overwhelming flood defenses, but authorities warned there was still danger waterlogged dykes could collapse and wreak havoc across southeastern Europe. (Reuters)

New England Not Immune to Strong Temblors
April 16 — It is only a matter of time before the Northeast is struck by a major temblor, according to earthquake specialists at the U.S. Geological Survey, who have placed Boston on a list of the top 26 risk areas in the nation. (The Boston Globe)

Midwest Begins to Clean Up from Tornadoes
April 16 — City streets showed signs of returning to their normal rhythms in the aftermath of a tornado that carved a path of destruction through the heart of downtown of Iowa City, Iowa, while a new round of tornadoes ripped through Nebraska, damaging farm buildings and downing power lines. (Associated Press)

Japan Sky-Mapping Satellite Back on Track
April 15 — A Japanese satellite orbiting the Earth will start mapping the sky in May after scientists fixed a glitch in the navigation system, an official said. (Associated Press)

Brazil Floods Kill Eight, Leave 116,000 Homeless
April 15 — Floods killed eight people and left 116,000 homeless after torrential rains in northern Brazil, officials said, declaring a state of emergency in some areas. (AFP)

British Expert Warns of Global Warming
April 14 — Global temperatures are likely to rise by 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century, sharply increasing drought and water shortages, Britain's chief scientist said. (Associated Press)

Scientists: Red Tide Encore Not Certain
April 14 — The red tide of algae that choked the Massachusetts coast last year may not, as scientists had feared, come back year after year for a recurring summer encore. (Associated Press)

Arctic Mission to Spotlight Polar Bears
April 14 — Two U.S. explorers plan to start a four-month summer expedition to the North Pole next month to gather information on the habitat of an animal they believe could be the first victim of global warming -- the polar bear. (Reuters)

Study Shows Melting Ice a Danger to Walruses
April 14 — Arctic researchers who discovered a surprising number of abandoned baby walruses say melting sea ice may be the culprit, according to a new study. (Reuters)

Weather Satellite Swarm Launched
April 14 — A rocket carrying six small weather satellites blasted off on a five-year mission to track hurricanes, monitor climate change and study space weather. (Associated Press)

Predicting Earthquakes Still Elusive
April 14 — 2006-04-14 The monster earthquake that turned San Francisco into smoky rubble a century ago also gave rise to seismology, but scientists still can't predict when the next Big One will pop. (Associated Press)

100 Years Later, San Francisco Ripe for Megaquake
April 13 — As the anniversary of the San Francisco earthquake disaster approaches, scientists are warning that the heavily populated California region has a 62 percent chance of a magnitude 6.7 or greater quake between now and 2032. (National Geographic News)

Northern California Mudslides Force Evacuation
April 13 — Storms that dumped up to seven inches of rain over 24 hours triggered mudslides across Northern California, burying an elderly man in an avalanche of mud, closing roads and forcing the evacuation of several homes. (Associated Press)

Tsunami Quake Reveals Flaws in Model
April 12 — The monster earthquake that hit Sumatra in December 2004 is teaching scientists what they do not know about the causes of mega quakes - it's still a lot. (BBC)

Make That 28 Tropical Storms Last Year
April 12 — Upon further review of months-old weather records, the National Hurricane Center added a 28th storm to the already record-setting 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. (Associated Press)

Researcher: Tectonic Plates Slowly Moving
April 11 — Upon further review of months-old weather records, the National Hurricane Center added a 28th storm to the already record-setting 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. (Associated Press)

Museum Highlights Arctic Climate Change
April 11 — Government agencies including NASA have contributed to new exhibits at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History that will discuss what is happening to the climate and how it affects people living in the planet's northernmost areas. (Associated Press)

Global Warming Threatens Extinctions
April 11 — Global warming will become a top cause of extinction from the tropical Andes to South Africa with thousands of species of plants and animals likely to be wiped out in coming decades, a study shows. (Reuters)

Experts See Peril in Reduced Monitoring of Nation's Streams and Rivers
April 11 — Reduced funding for flood gauges is worrying scientists who say the instruments are needed to ensure they receive accurate data on rivers and streams to provide flood warnings. (The New York Times)

Beijing Air Quality Reaches Hazardous Level Five
April 10 — Air pollution in Beijing hit "hazardous" levels for the second day running, amid warnings from the state meteorological bureau of sandstorms to engulf northern China in the coming days. (AFP)

Elbe River Reaches Record Levels in Flooded German Cities
April 9 — The swollen Elbe river has risen to record levels in parts of northern Germany, but authorities said the worst of recent flooding would soon be over. (AFP)

Crews Seek Survivors after Deadly Storms
April 8 — Tornadoes that killed 12 were spotted in about ten Tennessee counties, the second wave of deadly storms to hit the state in less than a week, leaving the worst damage in Gallatin and other suburbs northeast of Nashville. (Associated Press)

Wild Tornado Season: Expect More
April 8 — This is the fastest start of the tornado season since 1999, and according to scientists, previous years with a busy start have produced high numbers of tornadoes throughout the year. (LiveScience.com)

OSU Researchers Propose Sea Floor Map Plan
April 7 — Researchers at Oregon State University and other state agencies are proposing the most ambitious mapping ever done of the sea floor off Oregon and are hoping for state and federal funding to get it done. (Associated Press)

Air Trends 'Amplifying' Warming
April 7 — Reduced air pollution and increased water evaporation appear to be adding to man-made global warming, a new study finds. (BBC)

Supervolcanoes Cluster in South America
April 7 — Geologists have uncovered a whole herd of supervolcanoes hidden in the remote Argentina-Bolivia-Chile highlands, including one that may have matched or exceeded the explosive fury and pyroclastic volume of the Yellowstone eruptions. (Discovery.com)

Extreme London Flood Investigated
April 6 — Scientists have been investigating the effects of a 7 meter-high wave traveling up the Thames, using computer simulations. (BBC)

Disaster is Coming to San Francisco: The Question is When
April 6 — In a repeat of the catastrophic April 1906 San Francisco earthquake, several thousand would perish, the USGS estimates, largely because the area is now home to 6.7 million people living atop seven active earthquake faults. (USA Today)

Pacific Ocean Grows More Acidic
April 6 — The Pacific has grown more acidic over the past 15 years largely because of the water's intake of carbon dioxide - a change that is impacting marine life - researchers said. (LiveScience.com)

Five Hurricane Names Retired
April 6 — The World Meteorological Organization announced that Katrina, Dennis, Rita, Stan and Wilma - the most devastating storms from last year's hurricane season - have been retired. (Associated Press)

North Dakota Cities Think They May Escape Flooding
April 5 — The Red River was projected to crest at 48 feet -- 20 feet above flood stage but well below the top of a new levee built after historic floods in 1997. (Associated Press)

Expert Says it was Hotter 247 Million Years Ago
April 5 — Like the huge meteor striking the Gulf of Mexico that many scientists believe wiped out the dinosaurs, the global warming at the end of the Permian period resulted in deadly amounts of carbon dioxide that killed most land animals, a scientist reported. (Associated Press)

NASA Monitors Great Barrier Reef Coral Bleaching
April 5 — NASA satellites that monitor ocean color and temperature have joined a global effort to study the worrisome bleaching of coral on Queensland's Great Barrier Reef. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Coral Die-Off Spreads to Caribbean
April 4 — The bleaching and dying of coral reefs first observed around the Virgin Islands has spread across the Caribbean, into the Florida Keys, marine biologists reported. (Florida Keys Keynoter)

'Major Melt' for Alpine Glaciers
April 4 — Europe's Alps could lose three-quarters of their glaciers to climate change during the coming century, scientists reported. (BBC)

Global Warming Unstoppable, but Still Chance to Stop Major Disasters, Scientists Say
April 3 — It takes decades to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions and nearly two dozen computer models now agree that by 2100 the average yearly global temperature will be 3 to 6 degrees Fahrenheit warmer, but climate experts say we can still avoid many disasters. (Associated Press)

Record-Breaking Rainy Month in Hawaii Clears to Reveal Blue Skies
April 3 — Residents of Hawaii were finally greeted with sunshine after more than 40 days of downpours that left havoc and broke records for rain, including nearly 92 inches at Mount Waialeale. (Associated Press)

Space Network to Track Rainfall
April 3 — The U.S. and Japanese space agencies plan to launch a satellite network to measure rainfall around the world with their Global Precipitation Measurement project that will provide three-hourly reports on rainfall. (BBC)

Central Europe Braces as Flood Waters Set to Peak
April 3 — Emergency crews were furiously working in much of central Europe to shore up flood defenses as rivers across the region swelled due to melted snow and rain, forcing thousands to evacuate and bringing businesses to a halt. (Reuters)

Death Toll Rises to 28 in Storms
April 3 — Tornadoes that ravaged the central United States claimed another victim in Tennessee, raising the death toll in the region to 28, state officials said. (Reuters)

Ozone Hole Closing But Greenhouse Gases Worse, Scientists Say
April 3 — Scientists have discovered the hole in the ozone layer is closing and may close entirely by 2050, but say greenhouse gas emissions are increasing. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Beetles Aid in Global Warming Research
April 1 — Global warming researchers often have to look for tiny clues in animal bones to help them understand the most minute effects of climate change, and beetles are particularly useful since they clean bones without damaging even the most delicate specimens. (Associated Press)

Rivers Flood Towns in Central Europe
April 1 — Rivers swollen by recent rain and melting snow flooded towns and forced evacuations across central Europe. (Associated Press)

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