Calculations suggest that Earth was a water-world until about 2.5 billion years ago, with land making up only 2 to 3 percent of its surface. (New Scientist) more...
Yellowstone National Park was jostled by a host of small earthquakes for a third straight day, and scientists watched closely to see whether the more than 250 tremors were a sign of something bigger to come. (ABC News) more...
A recent report released by the U.S. Geological Survey projects abrupt climactic shifts, including a more rapid climate change with global sea level increases of up to 4 feet by the year 2100 and arid climatic shifts in the North American Southwest by mid-century. (ABC News) more...
Scientists have reported a rapid recovery in some of the coral reefs that were damaged by the Indian Ocean tsunami four years ago. (BBC News) more...
A number of international scientists have developed a new definition of saltwater which they say will improve the accuracy of climate change and weather predictions. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) more...
The demise of the Incas and Aztecs may have sparked global climate change. As the civilizations fell, rainforests overtook farmland and vacuumed carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, possibly contributing to the Little Ice Age. (Discovery News) more...
Volcanic eruptions have periodically cooled the tropics over at least the last 450 years by spewing out particles that girdle the world at high altitude and reflect sunlight, according to a new study. (Agence France-Presse) more...
NASA has made an appeal for public help to determine the fate of 90 rubber ducks deployed on a special mission to pinpoint where melt waters go under the Greenland ice shelf in summer months. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) more...
Heavier snowflakes fall faster but are difficult to forecast. By creating snowflakes at different temperatures, scientists hope to observe changes in the speed of snowflake growth, allowing collaborators to better understand the relationship between snowfall and temperature. (ABC News) more...
Swiss glaciers are melting away at an accelerating rate and many will vanish this century if climate projections are correct, two new studies suggest. (BBC News) more...
The East Siberian Sea is bubbling with methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, being released from underwater reserves, according to a recent expedition. (National Geographic News) more...
The U.S. space agency is set to launch a satellite that can pinpoint the key locations on the Earth's surface where CO2 is being emitted and absorbed. (BBC News) more...
If growth in carbon dioxide emissions is to be constrained and even reversed then the world cannot afford a coal renaissance, scientists have said. (BBC News) more...
A drill team looking for geothermal energy in Hawaii has inadvertently given scientists a rare opportunity to study geological processes usually hidden deep underground. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) more...
NASA says it has satellite data that shows more than 2 trillion tons of land ice in Greenland, the Arctic, Antarctica and Alaska has melted in the past five years. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) more...
Scientists say they now have unambiguous evidence that the warming in the Arctic is accelerating. (BBC News) more...
In a startling reversal of generally accepted theory, researchers using a fleet of solar-watching satellites have learned that thick gobs of solar plasma have easy and regular access into Earth's magnetosphere, thanks to a trick of nature. (Discovery News) more...
Jumbo squid, common to the eastern tropical Pacific, may become rarer if current climate change continues, according to a study that found the squids' lifestyle could be strongly influenced by changes in ocean acidity. (BBC News) more...
Global average temperatures in 2008 fell to levels not seen since 2000, though it was still one of the 10 warmest years on record, according to the World Meteorological Organization. (BBC News) more...
In rare events called "thundersnows", thunder and lightning can foreshadow heavy snowfall, an effect that may prove useful for forecasters. (New Scientist) more...
Scientists hope that deep sea coral from the Southern Ocean, collected by an unmanned robot the size of a small car during a month-long voyage, will provide new clues on global climate changes. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) more...
Scientists from Canada and more than a dozen other countries say the Arctic region will have an ice-free summer in as little as six years. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) more...
Scientists believe that Montana's natural wonder will melt sooner than expected. (ABC News) more...
A new theory suggests the Permian-Triassic mass extinction was set in motion 15 million years earlier, deep in the Earth, where a plume of super-hot material began rising through the mantle, upsetting convection in the core and throwing the planet's magnetic field into disarray. (Discovery News) more...
Almost a fifth of the planet's coral reefs have died and carbon emissions are largely to blame, according to an NGO study released Wednesday. (Agence France-Presse/Discovery News) more...
Climate change – due primarily to human-produced greenhouse gases but also because of natural variability – is the cause of most of the temperature increases observed in the USA since 1951, according to a new report. (USA Today) more...
In August 2004, fire crews attended a wildfire near Santa Barbara, California. After fire crews hosed down a 2004 California wildfire, they traced the fire to a recent landslide, but had no idea how it started. It now appears that a chemical reaction in the rocks caused the ignition. (New Scientist) more...
Phytoplankton, which remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, could flourish as they consume iron particles exposed by the increasing number of icebergs breaking off Antarctica, although how great an effect this would have on climate remains to be seen. (New Scientist) more...
An electric utility official and a state meteorologist have developed a system to measure the severity of an ice storm that may help people better prepare. (USA Today) more...
A long-standing mystery about why atmospheric methane levels spike at the start of every winter could be explained by the squeezing effect of ice formation. (New Scientist) more...
A new study suggests that extreme chemical reactions catalyzed by meteorite impacts may have jump-started life in the early oceans, rather than delivering the building blocks pre-formed. (Scientific American) more...
An initial snapshot of climate stories published over the past four years shows that the media may be entering a climate trance, as 2008 saw significantly less climate coverage than 2007, although the long term trend shows an increase. (The New York Times) more...
Representatives from nearly 200 countries gathered in Poland for the U.N. conference on climate change; also, researchers see new changes at the poles — from slippery ice sheets to mysterious gases. (National Public Radio) more...
The occasionally acrimonious debate about the planet's climate has been missing a key component: accurate measurements of how much carbon dioxide is in the air and how it is being recycled by Earth. (Discovery News/MSNBC) more...
Seven Western states will face more water shortages in the years ahead as climate change exacerbates the strain that drought and population growth have put on the Colorado River. (Associated Press) more...
White lemuroid possums—otherwise known as Hemibelideus lemuroides—may have become the first mammal to disappear because of climate change. (Scientific American) more...
As world leaders meet in Poland to discuss efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and temper global warming, it's worth remembering that scientists have known for a long time that climate change could be a problem. (Scientific American) more...
New research suggests that a devastating "megathrust" earthquake could occur at any time off the Indonesian island of Sumatra, as previous quakes have failed to release all of the energy that has built up over hundreds of years. (New Scientist) more...
Large sources of pollution to the Baltic Sea have been missed by existing monitoring efforts, new research suggests. (BBC News) more...
Venice has been hit by the biggest flood in more than 20 years, with waters rising 5 feet above normal. (BBC News) more...
The first comprehensive inventory of the sea and land animals living in a polar region has been carried out by British and German scientists. (BBC News) more...
Scientists are tracking where greenhouse gases come from and where they go over time in order to learn how to budget emissions for the long term. (The New York Times) more...
Analyses of crystals in rocks in Australia have led geologists to think the planet quickly became a cool place of land, seas and perhaps even life. (The New York Times) more...
According to Neil Sampson, an international forestry consultant, forest ecosystems are always in a state of transformation. But climate change might speed up the process. (Earth & Sky Radio) more...
Better climate models are key to understanding how best to protect the environment and food production, but they require massive computing resources. (Scientific American) more...