Venice Sinks Under High Waters
October 31 — The lagoon-city of Venice spent a fifth day struggling against high waters as heavy rains and wind lashed parts of northern Italy. (Reuters)

Big Arctic Perils Seen in Warming, Survey Finds
October 30 — A comprehensive four-year study of warming in the Arctic shows that heat-trapping gases from tailpipes and smokestacks around the world are contributing to profound environmental changes, including sharp retreats of glaciers and sea ice, thawing of permafrost and shifts in the weather, the oceans and the atmosphere. (New York Times)

Tidal Wave Threat 'Over-Hyped'
October 29 — The risk of a landslide in the Canary Islands causing a tidal wave capable of devastating America's east coast is vastly overstated, say marine geologists. (BBC)

Snapping a Hurricane's Strength
October 29 — Researchers say we may be able to weaken or direct hurricanes in the future. (Associated Press)

A Greenhouse Gas Goes Underground
October 28 — By injecting carbon dioxide into an underground oil field, Canadian researchers are not only cutting emissions of the greenhouse gas, they're also boosting oil production. (Christian Science Monitor)

Report: Disaster Toll Tripled in 2003
October 28 — Natural disasters killed 76,806 people in 2003, three times the number of victims in 2002, a rise due in part to extremes in the global climate, says a new report. (Reuters)

Pollution May Be Reducing California Rainfall
October 28 — Urban air pollution may be reducing rainfall in the Central Valley and along the heavily populated southern California coast, while trimming mountain snowfall that supplies much of the state's drinking and irrigation water and hydroelectric power, a new study shows. (Associated Press)

New Supercomputer Claims to be Fastest
October 27 — The builders of a new NASA supercomputer claim the 10,240-processor machine is the fastest in the world - an exciting prospect for researchers even if the speed title has yet to be officially bestowed. (Associated Press)

Laser Technology Helps Track Changes in Mount St. Helens
October 25 — U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and NASA scientists studying Mount St. Helens are using high-tech Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) technology to analyze changes in the surface elevation of the crater, which began deforming in late September 2004. (Science Daily)

Global Warming Effects Faster Than Feared
October 21 — Recent storms, droughts and heat waves are probably being caused by global warming, which means the effects of climate change are coming faster than anyone had feared. (Reuters)

UK Carbon Output 'Under-Reported'
October 21 — Researchers say the UK is responsible for almost 30 percent more carbon dioxide than it reports. (BBC)

Report: People Use, Earth Loses
October 21 — People are plundering the world's resources at a pace that outstrips the planet's capacity to sustain life, says the World Wildlife Federation. (Associated Press)

Was 20th Century Unusually Wet?
October 20 — The American Southwest is in the seventh year of a drought that could have a profound impact across the entire country and, in the end, stand as a stark monument to human exploitation of a land of limited resources. (ABC)

West African Locusts to Remain
October 19 — The huge locust swarms that have ravaged swaths of western Africa after prolonged heavy rainfall this summer are likely to plague the region for several years, say officials. (Associated Press)

Butterflies Fly Higher as Earth Heats Up
October 16 — Butterflies fluttering in central Europe�s mountains are flying at higher and cooler elevations, a possible impact of global warming. (Times of India)

Lava Building Up at Mount St. Helens
October 14 — More lava is emerging on the crater floor of Mount St. Helens, expanding a rock formation building on the volcano's old lava dome. (Associated Press)

Chemists Could Predict Volcano's Moves
October 14 — Monitoring the gases emitted by lava from Mount St. Helens might provide clues to future eruptions, a British volcano expert says. (Associated Press)

Florida to Begin Everglades Overhaul Project
October 14 — Florida plans to start eight projects related to Everglades restoration, including building reservoirs that could ease suburban flooding and environmental damage from hurricanes, officials say. (Associated Press)

Carbon 'Reaching Danger Levels'
October 13 — The UK government's leading scientist says levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere already represent a serious danger. (BBC)

Ecuador Seen Losing Glaciers to Global Warming
October 13 — Global warming is melting Ecuador's cherished mountain glaciers and could cause several of them to disappear over the next two decades, Ecuadorian and French scientists say. (Reuters)

Hurricanes Ravage Florida Citrus
October 12 — Hard hit by four hurricanes, Florida citrus growers will produce 27 percent fewer oranges in the 2004 to 2005 season - the smallest crop in 11 years, the Agriculture Department says. (Associated Press)

Gulf's Dead Zone Less of a Mystery
October 12 — Scientists say that a coastal current which usually flows from Louisiana may play a significant role in the Gulf of Mexico's "dead zone" cycle. (Associated Press)

Glacier Grows in Mount St. Helens Crater
October 12 — While earthquakes, steam and magma are getting all the attention on Mount St. Helens these days, the volcano's most unusual feature could be the icy epitome of slow motion that has sprouted on its flanks in the last two decades: its glacier. (Associated Press)

'Sudden Jump' in Greenhouse Gas
October 11 — The atmosphere might be accumulating carbon dioxide � the gas most associated with the greenhouse effect that some scientists say is causing global warming � at an accelerated rate, new figures suggest. (Associated Press)

South Africa to Take Pulse of Its Environment
October 10 — Teams of scientists will conduct long-term research on environmental change in South Africa and make recommendations for sustainable use of resources. (Reuters)

Mount St. Helens Crater Floor Rising
October 7 — Part of Mount St. Helens' crater floor has risen 50 to 100 feet while earthquake rates have been low, signs that magma is moving upward without much resistance, scientists say. (Associated Press)

New Technology Helping Volcanologists
October 7 — New technology is allowing scientists to make better predictions and improve their overall understanding about the complex geological forces from a much safer distance. (Associated Press)

Researchers Find Frozen North May Accelerate Climate Change
October 7 — NASA-funded researchers have found despite their sub-zero temperatures, ecosystems of the frozen north may actually accelerate climate warming. (Science Daily)

Study Shows Potential for Antarctic Climate Change
October 6 — While Antarctica has mostly cooled over the last 30 years, the trend is likely to rapidly reverse, according to a computer model study by NASA researchers. (Science Daily)

Mount St. Helens Calms Down, Scientists Lower Alert
October 6 — Government scientists say that volcanic activity on Washington state's Mount St. Helens has started to taper off, following nearly two weeks of seismic activity and steam eruptions. (Associated Press)

Winter Weather Outlook Mixed, El Niño Looms
October 6 — Winter will be warmer than normal in the U.S. Western and Plains states and colder than usual in the Southeast and mid-Atlantic regions, but the return of El Niño is making it hard for forecasters to hazard a guess for much of the country, meteorologists say. (Reuters)

New Research Questions Uniqueness of Recent Warming
October 5 — A new analysis has challenged the accuracy of a climate timeline showing that recent global warming is unmatched for a thousand years. (New York Times)

Talk of El Niño Floods, Droughts Worries Farmers
October 3 — After a seemingly unending string of hurricanes and typhoons, talk that the "little boy" is stirring in the Pacific is unwelcome news for weather-battered farmers. (Reuters)

As Reservoirs Recede, Fears of Water Shortage Rise
October 3 — The seven western states that rely on the Colorado River are being forced to look for alternative water supplies as the long-term drought continues. (Los Angeles Times)

Pressure Building Again Inside Mount St. Helens
October 2 — Mount St. Helens quieted down after spewing a plume of steam and ash � but recent seismic readings suggest pressure is building again inside the volcano, which had been dormant for 18 years. (Associated Press)

Atlantic Hurricanes Should Slow in October
October 1 — A noted storm forecaster says the disastrous Atlantic hurricane season will go out with a whimper rather than a bang. (Reuters)

Antarctic Ozone Hole Smaller this Year
October 1 — A gaping hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica appears to have shrunk by about 20 percent from last year's record-breaking size, New Zealand scientists say. (Reuters)

Mexico's 'Volcano of Fire' Spews Lava
October 1 — Western Mexico's "Volcano of Fire" unleashed a towering column of smoke and ash, after ropes of burning, orange lava poured from its peak. (Associated Press)

Back to: News