Towering Ancient Tsunami Devastated the Mediterranean
November 30 — A volcano avalanche in Sicily 8,000 years ago triggered a devastating tsunami taller than a 10-story building that spread across the entire Mediterranean Sea, slamming into the shores of three continents in only a few hours. (LiveScience.com)

New Breed of Earthquake Identified
November 30 — Japanese researchers have discovered a new and sluggish kind of seismic activity that helps reveal the inner workings of faults capable of producing massive earthquakes like the one that generated the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. (Associated Press)

Greenhouse Gas is Ramping Up Fast
November 30 — The latest real-world measurements of carbon dioxide levels in Earth's atmosphere show that it's increasing at breakneck speed, despite preliminary efforts in some parts of the world to rein in fossil fuel burning. (Discovery.com)

Not One Hurricane Strikes United States
November 30 — The mild 2006 Atlantic hurricane season closed without a single hurricane striking the United States � a stark contrast to the record-breaking 2005 season that killed more than 1,500 people and left thousands homeless. (Associated Press)

Climate Change Killed Australia's Pre-historic Animals
November 30 — Giant kangaroos and wombats bigger than cars that once roamed Australia were killed by climate change and not human hunters, Australian scientists said. (Reuters)

Greenhouse Gases Cooling Edge of Space
November 29 — The same greenhouse gases guilty of warming the surface of the Earth are doing the opposite in the outer reaches of the atmosphere � cooling and contracting the air at the edge of space, which plays a big role in the operations of satellites, according to research in the journal Science. (Discovery.com)

Study: Beetles May Reduce Wildfire Risk
November 29 — The infestation of tree-killing bugs sweeping through millions of acres of forests in the West might help prevent wildfires rather than fuel them as feared, according to a new study. (Associated Press)

Climate 'Altering UK Marine Life'
November 28 — The biodiversity and productivity of seas around the United Kingdom could already be suffering the consequences of climate change, a report has concluded, saying that rising sea surface temperatures have led to an apparent northward shift of warm-water plankton. (BBC)

Scientists Find Climate Change Clues in the Sky
November 27 — Scientists are peering into the clouds near the top of the world, trying to solve a mystery and learn something new about global warming. (Associated Press)

Vicious Cycle of Droughts and Fires is Depleting Rain Forest
November 27 — During last year's harshest Amazon dry season in 40 years, drought and accidental fires killed half a billion metric tons of trees in Brazil-- trees storing the carbon equivalent to the annual emissions of California and New York state combined. (Boston Globe)

Floods Kill Seven in Somalia
November 26 — Floods have killed at least seven people, including five children, as the fourth week of heavy rains pounded Somalia, bringing the death toll to at least 96. (AFP)

Mount Etna Rumblings Shut Sicilian Airport
November 25 — Catana airport on the Italian island of Sicily is to close as a precaution because the nearby Mount Etna volcano is spewing out ash, the head of the country's civil protection service said. (AFP)

Appalachian Trail: An Environmental Lab
November 25 — The Appalachian Trail gives hikers a nearly 2,200-mile trek through mountains, meadows and forests stretching from Georgia to Maine, but to scientists and land managers it's also a living laboratory that could provide warnings of looming environmental problems. (Associated Press)

Earth Hit by 'Mass Extinction' 250 Million Years Ago
November 24 — About 95 percent of the Earth's marine species and 70 percent of its land species were wiped out during a "mass extinction" about 250 million years ago, according to Australian and U.S. researchers. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Earthquake Shakes Hawaii's Big Island
November 23 — An earthquake with a magnitude of at least 4.5 struck off the northwest coast of the Big Island in the same area where two stronger temblors struck last month. (Associated Press)

Mount St. Helens Brooding, Not Bursting
November 22 — Despite ongoing volcanic activity for the last two years, there is no indication Mount St. Helens is on the verge of a repeat performance of its cataclysmic 1980 eruption, scientists said. (Reuters)

Global Methane Rise Slowing Down
November 22 — The rise in concentrations of the greenhouse gas methane in the atmosphere has slowed down considerably in recent years, research suggests. (Associated Press)

Tsunami-Detecting Network in Development
November 22 — Researchers are hoping to develop a network of ocean-floor and mobile sensors that would help detect tsunamis in the Indian and Pacific oceans by filling in large gaps between buoys, allowing scientists to promptly alert officials of undersea earthquakes that could trigger tsunamis and endanger coastal areas. (Associated Press)

Wee Bit of White Stuff in Florida
November 22 — There was hardly a run on snow shovels, but a few flakes of snow hit the ground in Orlando for the first time since 2003, meteorologists said, while Charleston, South Carolina, reported its earliest snowfall on record. (Associated Press)

Global Warming Already Killing Species, Analysis Says
November 21 — Animal and plant species have begun dying off or changing sooner than predicted because of global warming, a review of hundreds of research studies contends. (Associated Press)

Faraway Volcanoes Shrunk the Mighty Nile
November 21 — Volcanic eruptions on Iceland generated a cascade of events that led to record low levels of water in the Nile River in Africa and brought famine to the region more than two centuries ago, a new study funded in part by NASA concludes. (LiveScience.com)

Smog Hangs Over North China
November 20 — Beijing residents have been warned to stay indoors due to high pollution levels, as a blanket of heavy smog across northern China caused traffic chaos and delayed flights throughout the region. (AFP)

New Study Lists Top Earthquake States
November 20 — Alaska and California have more earthquakes and stronger quakes than any other U.S. states, and Washington and Oregon could suffer catastrophic damage from quakes that could exceed magnitude 9.0. (LiveScience.com)

Devastating Floods Strike Afghanistan
November 18 — Nearly 60 people were dead and 100 still missing days after flash floods washed away mud-brick villages in western Afghanistan, officials said. (AFP)

Scientists: Arctic Getting Warmer, Melting
November 17 — Signs of warming continue in the Arctic with a decline in sea ice, an increase in shrubs growing on the tundra and rising worries about the Greenland ice sheet. (Associated Press)

Iceberg Spotted from New Zealand Shore
November 17 — An iceberg has been spotted from the New Zealand shore for the first time in 75 years, one of about 100 that have been drifting south of the country. (Associated Press)

Late El Nino Disrupts Storm Predictions
November 17 — A late El Nino this year confounded hurricane forecasters' predictions for the Atlantic storm season, which turned out to be quieter than normal, hurricane expert William Gray's team said. (Reuters)

Floods Devastate Horn of Africa
November 17 — Torrential rains and floods have hit up to 1.8 million people in the Horn of Africa, driving tens of thousands from their homes and threatening to trigger epidemics, UN aid bodies said. (Reuters)

Sergio Downgraded to Tropical Storm
November 17 — Hurricane Sergio weakened to a tropical storm, soaking areas of Mexico's Pacific coast with rain. (Associated Press)

Sea Robots Aid Climate Research
November 16 — About 60 international groups are participating in a collaborative effort to disperse floating robots throughout the world's oceans to help with weather forecasting and climate change monitoring. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Climate Threat to Migratory Species
November 16 — Some of the world's most spectacular migratory animals will be severely affected by climate change, according to a new UN report. (BBC)

Pollution Could Combat Global Warming
November 16 — Prominent scientists, among them a Nobel laureate, said a layer of pollution deliberately spewed into the atmosphere could act as a "shade" from the sun's rays and help cool the planet. (Associated Press)

Wildfires Reduce Warming in the Long Run
November 16 — A new look at the long-term and short-term effects of vast fires in northern forests shows that the blazes may speed up global warming at first, then help cool things off over the long haul. (Discovery.com)

Thailand Plans Tsunami Protection Devices
November 16 — Thai and U.S. experts will install the Indian Ocean's first state-of-the-art deep-water tsunami detection buoy next month, two years after massive waves killed at least 216,000 people around the region largely without warning, a top official said. (Associated Press)

Mega-tsunamis More Common than We Think
November 16 — Enormous comets may have often bombarded our oceans in the past, causing tsunamis that dwarf ones seen today, a group of scientists says. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Small Waves Hit Japan after Quake
November 15 — A powerful undersea earthquake prompted tsunami warnings for Japan, Russia and Alaska, but the danger passed after a series of tiny waves hit the northern Japanese coast. (Associated Press)

Polar Bear Survival Rate Falling
November 15 — Far fewer polar bears cubs are surviving off Alaska's northern coast than in years past, a U.S. government report has concluded. (Associated Press)

Compass Needles to Flip, Models Show
November 15 — Compasses could start pointing south soon, instead of in thousands of years, according to new simulations of Earth's internal magnetic field. (Associated Press)

California Still Mending After 2003 Blaze
November 15 — Three years after the largest wildfire in California history wiped out whole forests and disrupted native animals, there are signs the ecosystem is slowly recovering, scientists said. (Associated Press)

Climate Change Fueling Fires
November 14 — Global warming could stoke ferocious wildfires that will be more difficult and costly to fight and might drastically alter the environment in parts of the world, scientists warn. (Associated Press)

Studies Find Danger to Forests in Thinning Without Burning
November 14 — Thinning forests without also burning accumulated brush and deadwood may increase forest fire damage rather than reduce it, researchers at the U.S. Forest Service reported in two recent studies. (The New York Times)

Scientists to Do Global Warming Research
November 14 — The U.S. Air Force has begun a two-week effort to send scientists, supplies and equipment for global warming research to Antarctica. (Associated Press)

Diseases Appear on Rise with Temperature
November 14 — A warmer world already seems to be producing a sicker world, health experts reported, citing surges in Kenya, China and Europe of such diseases as malaria, heart ailments and dengue fever. (Associated Press)

Killer Floods Wreak Havoc in Kenya
November 13 — At least 21 people have been killed and 60,000 displaced by massive flooding in northern and coastal Kenya, triggered by three weeks of unusually heavy seasonal rains. (AFP)

Forest Trees Up in Some Nations
November 13 — While forests are still being lost in some countries, the volume of forest trees is increasing in many others, according to a new study. (Associated Press)

Thousands Evacuated as Typhoon Leaves Philippines
November 12 — More than 8,000 people have been evacuated from their homes as typhoon Chebi departed from the Philippines, moving further west into the South China Sea, authorities said. (AFP)

Space Maps of Forests from 1990s Could Aid Climate
November 10 — Photographs taken from space can track deforestation in developing nations and could be used along with cash incentives to safeguard trees and combat global warming, experts say. (Reuters)

Climate Change Melting Fabled African Glaciers
November 10 — Climate change is melting a legendary ice field in equatorial Africa and may soon thaw it out completely, threatening fresh water supplies to hundreds of thousands of people, a climate expert said. (Reuters)

Typhoon Gathers Strength off Philippines
November 10 — Residents in the northern Philippines are bracing themselves for another battering two weeks after super typhoon Cimaron tore through the region leaving a trail of destruction. (AFP)

Rosa Weakens to Tropical Depression
November 10 — Rosa weakened to a tropical depression just hours after it formed as a tropical storm off Mexico's Pacific coast. (Associated Press)

Scientists Say Millions Could Flee Rising Seas
November 10 — Nations must make plans to help tens of millions of "sea level refugees" if climate change continues to ravage the world's oceans, German researchers said. (Reuters)

El Nino Expected to Continue Into 2007
November 9 — The unusual warming of the Pacific Ocean known as El Nino is expected to continue into winter, affecting weather in North America, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said. (Associated Press)

Institute Focuses on Hurricane Forecasting
November 9 — Scientists at the federally funded Northern Gulf Institute at NASA's Stennis Space Center will work to improve hurricane forecasts and protect the Gulf Coast�s natural resources from storms, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced. (Associated Press)

Impoverished Africa Shudders Under Global Warming Threat
November 9 — Already faced with recurring cycles of flood, drought and crop failures, Africa and its 800 million people are on a collision course with devastation from unchecked global warming, climate experts say. (AFP)

U.N.: Climate Change Threatens Agricultural Crisis
November 9 — Immediate steps are needed to avert a potential catastrophe as climate change dries up water resources in drought affected areas, hitting poor farmers, a United Nations report said. (Reuters)

Global Climate Efforts 'Inadequate'
November 9 — Efforts to help developing nations adapt to the impacts of climate change have been called "woefully inadequate" by a UN-commissioned report that finds rich countries have largely ignored helping poor nations cope with the consequences, it says. (BBC)

Experts Say Oceans Are Turning Acidic
November 9 — The world's oceans are becoming more acidic, which poses a threat to sea life and Earth's fragile food chain, a climate expert said. (Associated Press)

Scientists Cautious About Carbon Dioxide Burial at Sea
November 9 — Plans to bury greenhouse gases under the sea should only be an emergency solution and guarantees must be sought that deposits are safely contained for thousands of years, German scientists said. (Reuters)

Polar Ice Show 'Bipolar Seesaw' Climate Link
November 8 — New ice cores from the deep Antarctic show a direct and millennia-old relationship between climate changes in the northern and southern hemispheres, scientists said. (Reuters)

Icebergs Near New Zealand After Drifting From Atlantic
November 8 — Scores of icebergs have floated to within about 200 miles of New Zealand, with the largest measuring about 1.1 miles in length and standing some 360 feet above water. (Reuters)

Yucca Mountain Volcanoes Misjudged
November 8 — A rather common sort of small volcano cluster found near the proposed high-level nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain may be lying about its eruption history, says a government volcanologist. (Discovery.com)

Flooding Prompts Evacuations in Northwest
November 8 — Record rainfall that brought heavy flooding to the Northwest, killing at least one person, causing evacuations and damaging roads and houses, began to ease as high waters continued to threaten some areas. (Associated Press)

Water Flow in China's Yellow River Hits Record Low
November 7 — Water levels in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, China's second longest, have hit a historic low, Xinhua news agency said, after a senior official warned that China might run out of water by 2030. (Reuters)

Japan Probes Damage from Killer Twister
November 7 — Japanese authorities are investigating the damage from a rare tornado that tore through a town killing nine construction workers and leaving seven other people seriously injured. (AFP)

Drier, Hotter Australia Predicted
November 6 — Australia's climate is now permanently hotter and drier and the country faces major temperature rises and significantly less rainfall by 2070, scientists said. (Reuters)

NASA Supports Fire Mapping Efforts on California Wildfire
November 6 — A team led by NASA and U.S. Forest Service scientists recently collected real-time, visible and infrared data from sensors onboard a remotely piloted aircraft over the Esperanza Fire in Southern California. (SpaceRef.com)

Ethiopia in Dangerous Cycle of Droughts and Floods
November 5 — Ethiopia, hit again by deadly floods this week, is caught in a devastating cycle of drought and heavy rains that threatens the survival of millions of people, experts say. (AFP)

Global Warming Could Trigger Insect Population Boom
November 4 — A rise in the Earth�s temperature could lead to an increase in the number of insects worldwide, a new study suggests. (LiveScience.com)

UN Says 2005 Set Greenhouse Gas Record
November 3 — Heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached a record high in 2005 and are still increasing, the U.N. weather agency said. (Associated Press)

Fish Stocks 'Could Collapse by 2048'
November 2 — If current trends of overfishing and pollution continue, the populations of just about all seafood face collapse by 2048, a team of ecologists and economists warns in a report in Science. (Associated Press)

NASA Tracks Remnants of Oldest Bison Herds
November 2 — Satellite data and computer modeling from NASA has helped to track the remaining numbers of America's Yellowstone bison. (inthenews.co.uk)

Indonesia Says Forest Fires Almost Gone
November 2 — Indonesia said 90 percent of forest and brush fires that have produced thick smoke blanketing much of Southeast Asia have died out as regional officials met to discuss plans to tackle the annual hazard. (Reuters)

Many Risk Long-Term Damage from Asia Haze
November 2 — From asthma attacks and sore throats to scarring and abnormal development of lungs in children, Southeast Asia's annual haze is a health threat that affects millions of people and costs regional economies dearly. (Reuters)

N.C. State Researchers' Mild Hurricane Predictions Hold True
November 1 — The nation's leading hurricane experts predicted a vicious 2006 storm season would spin more than a dozen strong storms out of the Atlantic Ocean, but a milder forecast from a lesser-known team in North Carolina is proving more accurate. (Associated Press)

Floods, Storms Claim Lives in Turkey
November 1 — Floods and storms over the past several days have claimed 27 lives in Turkey's southeast and wreaked havoc in other parts of the country. (AFP)

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