Satellites Show Overall Increases In Antarctic Sea Ice Cover
August 30, 2002NASA research indicates that since the 1970s the amount of sea ice in the
Antarctic has increased. (ScienceDaily, Environment News Service, SpaceDaily)
Climate and Cholera: An Increasingly Important Link
August 29, 2002Scientists from the Universities of Michigan and Barcelona and the
International Center for Diarrhoeal Disease Research say that Cholera
outbreaks seem to be accelerating in association with climate change.
(Cosmiverse.com)
Satellite Trio Helps Track Hurricanes
August 26, 2002Since Hurricane Andrew in 1992, NASA has launched 3 satellites to help
improve forecasting of tropical cyclones: The Tropical Rainfall Measuring
Mission, QuikSCAT and Aqua satellites each look at different factors
including rain, wind, temperature and humidity. (United Press International)
Global Warming Might Stall the Next Ice Age
August 23, 2002Research from the University Catholique de Louvain in Belgium has shown that the input of greenhouse gases could have an impact on the climate 50,000 years in the future. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Antarctic Sea Ice Increases Over the Past 20 Years
August 22, 2002NASA research indicates the amount of ice in the Antarctic has increased from 1979 to1999 has increased as measured by satellites. (Space.com, UPI, der Wissenchaft (Germany))
Satellites Help Show Half of U.S. Gripped by Drought
August 21, 2002By the end of July, 49 percent of the contiguous United States was in moderate to extreme drought, according to the Palmer Drought Index. Satellites are being used to monitor drought conditions. (Space.com)
Satellite Data Informs Wildfire Recovery
August 20, 2002The University of Maryland, NASA and the USDA Forest Service are using data from NASA's Terra satellite to provide faster, broader assessments of the severity of burn damage after wildfires. (Environment News Service, Silicon Valley.com)
West Nile Virus Claims More Lives
August 20, 2002Cases of West Nile Virus are rising, as the mosquito transmitted virus continues to spread further west in the U.S. New cases or infection were reported this week in Florida, Mississippi, Maryland, Massachusetts, and the District of Columbia. (Environment News Service)
Soil Study May Yield Harvest of Water Cycle Data
August 19, 2002NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory took part in a 3 week field experiment using remote sensing techniques over the nation's heartland to better understand soil moisture. (Spacedaily.com)
Mild Winters, Dust and Floods in New Places: China
August 16, 2002Arid areas of China unaccustomed to heavy amounts of rainfall were subject to flooding monsoon rains this year, and flooding and mudslides have killed 108 people in the past 10 days. (Associated Press)
Oceans May Help Clean the Air
August 15, 2002The world?s oceans could be helping clean the atmosphere, according to a study that says the salty sea spray encourages rain that washes out dust and other pollutants. (Associated Press)
Terra Satellite Refines Map of Global Land Cover
August 15, 2002New NASA land cover maps are providing scientists with the most refined global picture ever produced of the distribution of Earth?s ecosystems and land use patterns. (Cosmiverse)
Scientists Cautious About Global Warming Link to Flood Disasters
August 14, 2002Scientists were cautious Wednesday about suggestions that global warming caused the freak storms and pounding monsoon rains that have devastated central and eastern Europe and swathes of Asia. (Science Daily)
Global Warming Threatens Ocean Ecosystems
August 14, 2002Climate change will create increasing challenges to U.S. coastal and marine ecosystems over the next century, warns a new Pew Center on Global Climate Change report. (Environmental News Service)
Cosmic Rays, Global Warming Linked
August 12, 2002Fangqun Yu of State University of New York-Albany said that cosmic rays may explain a mystery of why the lower atmosphere is cooling with the thermometers on Earth's surface show a warming trend. (Discovery Channel)
Asian Haze Poses ?Widespread Threat?
August 11, 2002Pollution in southern Asia is a regional and global threat that will worsen over the next 30 years, scientists say. (BBC)
El Nino Blamed for Weather Chaos
August 11, 2002The weather phenomenon El Niño is being blamed by scientists for the freak weather conditions which have caused chaos and many deaths around the world. (BBC)
Plankton Loss Potential Threat to Seas, Climate
August 9, 2002Satellite surveys have detected a sharp decline in plankton in several oceans?a potential threat to the marine food chain, and one that could undercut a natural buffer to global warming. (Toronto Star, Atlanta Journal Sentinel, CNN, MSNBC)
NASA: Eastern U.S. Smokeout in Early July Set Record
August 8, 2002Smoke from the Canadian forest fires in July brought a record amount of air pollutants to the U.S. mid-Atlantic area, according to the U.S. AERONET and Canadian AEROCAN networks. (Space.com, The Quebec Tribune, The Record (Quebec))
Satellite Sees Through Smoke to Help Track Wildfires
August 7, 2002The MODIS instrument aboard NASA?s Terra satellite is being used to help firefighters pinpoint fires and determine the intensity of fires. (San Jose Mercury News)
Global Warming is Changing Tropical Forests
August 7, 2002Scientists at the annual meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology say that global warming is having far reaching effects on tropical forests. (Environment News Service)
Jet Contrails Leave Their Mark on Climate
August 7, 2002Contrails left by jets have a small but significant influence on the range of daily temperatures on Earth. (United Press International)
Wildfires May be a Taste of Global Warming
August 5, 2002Increasing carbon dioxide levels has spurred vegetation growth in forests and helped create thick stands of fire-vulnerable trees, but scientists are still struggling to understand all of the effects of warming. (Weather.com)
West Nile Will Sweep Across Whole US
August 2, 2002West Nile is continuing to sweep across the entire U.S. with 88 confirmed cases and 5 human deaths. Experts think it will be across the entire U.S. by the end of this summer. (New Scientist, MSNBC)
Satellites Reveal A Mystery Of A Large Change In Earth?s Gravity Field
August 1, 2002Satellite data since 1998 indicates the bulge in the Earth?s gravity field at the equator is growing, and scientists think that the ocean may hold the answer to the mystery of how the changes in the trend of Earth?s gravity are occurring. (CNN, BBC News, MSNBC, UPI, NPR, NY Times, Bloomberg News, Ananova, NY Post, Sydney Morning Herald, London Daily Telegraph, Knight Ridder news wire, Agence-France Presse)