Monsoon Intensity Increasing as Earth Warms
July 26, 2002A new study suggests monsoons in southwestern Asia, which affects the livelihoods of more than half the world?s people, have strengthened steadily over the last four centuries, probably as a result of warming temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere. (United Press International, Scientific American.com, Ananova)
Record Sea Temperatures Threaten Great Barrier Reef
July 26, 2002Sea temperatures at Australia?s Great Barrier Reef last summer were the warmest on record and this year?s El Niño event means the risk of mass coral bleaching has increased considerably, scientists reported on Thursday. (Reuters, Discovery.com)
Monsoon Intensity Increasing as Earth Warms
July 26, 2002Researchers say that an increase in Eurasian snow cover, or escalation of greenhouse gases, volcanic aerosols or solar output are to blame for increased intensity of Asian southwest monsoons. (Scientific American)
Slowest U.S. Tornado Year Since 1988
July 25, 2002The year 2002 is shaping up to be the slowest, safest year for tornado activity in the U.S. since 1988, with fewer than half the average number of twisters, and less than one-fourth the average number of tornado deaths. (CNN.com)
Indian Government Says Lack of Rain Worst in Decade
July 25, 2002With a long dry spell preventing planting and ruining crops in northwest India, the agriculture minister said Wednesday that conditions in the country?s breadbasket are the worst in a decade. (AP)
Air Pollution Changes Rainfall, May Cause Drought
July 23, 2002Nearly two decades after one of the world?s most devastating famines in Africa, scientists are pointing a finger at pollution from industrial nations as one of the possible causes. (AP)
Landsat Paints a Portrait of Our Changing Planet
July 23, 2002For 30 years, Landsat satellites have been monitoring the Earth for important natural processes and human land use such as vegetation growth, deforestation, agriculture, coastal and river erosion, snow accumulation and fresh-water reservoir replenishment, and urbanization. (Cosmiverse)
Study Finds Alaska Glaciers Melting at Higher Rate
July 18, 2002A new study indicates that glaciers in Alaska are melting faster than previously thought, providing further evidence of global warming. (CNN.com)
Ice Crystals Clues to Climate
July 18, 2002NASA researchers are investigating high tropical cirrus clouds composed of tiny ice crystals to better understand how the ice clouds affect global warming. (UPI)
Unlocking the Storm Code
July 18, 2002Figuring out atmospheric triggers for warm-weather storms could improve forecasts and help prevent billions in damage annually. (Christian Science Monitor)
West Nile Virus Spreads Westward into 26 States
July 18, 2002This year, the West Nile virus has been discovered over a much wider area than in previous years, and it has spread farther west. (Environmental News Service)
China's Pollution Found in Hawaii
July 16, 2002Environmental monitoring stations in Hawaii find arsenic, copper and zinc that were kicked into the atmosphere five to 10 days earlier from smelting in China, thousands of miles away. (San Jose Mercury News)
Cause and Effect Across 70,000 Years of Atmospheric Chaos
July 16, 2002Abrupt climate changes in the northern hemisphere over the past 70,000 years may have been directly influenced by weather in the tropics. (SpaceDaily)
NASA Turns New Weather Bird Over to NOAA
July 16, 2002The nation?s newest polar-orbiting environmental satellite, NOAA-17, was turned over to the Commerce Department?s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration from NASA?s Goddard Space Flight Center on July 14. (SpaceDaily)
Temperatures Indicate More Global Warming
July 11, 2002Global temperatures posted a sharp increase during the first half of the year?adding to the signs that the Earth is in the midst of the warmest decade since weather records were first kept in 1867. (Atlanta Journal Constitution)
Iceland Glacier Flood Fears
July 11, 2002UK scientists have detected signs of unusual geothermal activity beneath two ice caps in Iceland. (BBC)
Earthshine Map Helps Predict Weather
July 11, 2002The US space agency's Terra satellite has measured how much sunlight the earth reflects back into space. (BBC)
Feds Say El Niño Officially Here, but Weak
July 11, 2002A weak version of the climate phenomenon El Niño has emerged and will affect U.S. weather by autumn, federal weather forecasters said on Thursday. (Reuters)
Link between Northern Pollution and African Drought
July 11, 2002The smokestacks of North America and European factories may have spawned the devastating droughts that killed millions of people in Ethiopia and other parts of the Sahel region of Africa. (Environmental News Service)
Satellite Detects Wind Zones
July 10, 2002NASA's Quick Scatterometer satellite has confirmed a 30-year-old, largely unproven theory that there are two areas near the equator where the winds converge year after year and drive ocean circulation south of the equator. (UPI, Ascribe News, ScienceDaily)
Mixed Crops Make Cool, Wet Summers
July 2, 2002A diversity of crops and vegetation in a large swath of the Western U.S. could contribute to cooler, wetter weather in the region, according to a NASA study. (CNN, Cosmiverse.com)
Global Warming Lends Power to Jellyfish
July 2, 2002The combjelly jellyfish are thriving off Long Island sound because water temperature have risen about 3 degrees in the past two decades according to scientists. (Boston Globe)
EO-1 Satellite Proves a Success
July 1, 2002The new technology aboard NASA's EO-1 satellite has proven itself invaluable in its clarity and ability to more accurately identify objects on the Earth's surface. (SpaceflightNow, UPI, Cosmiverse.com)