The Spanish government has agreed to spend $87 million in building the world�s second most powerful supercomputer to aid in scientific research on medicine, climate change, and new materials for aeronautics and mechanical engineering. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Smoke drifting from burning forests in the Amazon is affecting the climate of the entire South American continent, drying up rain, but making storms that do develop much more violent than usual. (Reuters)
Experts examine the growing air quality crisis in Rocky Mountain National Park. (CBS News)
The world�s glaciers have been forced into retreat by global warming, but the Moreno Glacier is still on the march and has now, against all predictions, started to prepare for a rare and spectacular explosion of ice and water. (The Times)
Researchers made a major revision to the coral family tree that may spur stepped-up efforts to conserve the unsung Atlantic corals. (Nature)
A study finds permafrost is thawing, vegetation is becoming more marsh-like and emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, have risen by 66 percent in the Swedish sub-arctic. (ScienceNow)
Researchers from James Cook University�s School of Tropical Environment Studies and Geography say that other planets in the solar system are also likely in a state of change. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
A leading environmental scientist says a body of pollution that has been identified in the skies across Asia is now threatening to engulf the Middle East and make the planet a drier place. (Reuters, Associated Press)
Harvard researchers discuss the dire consequences of global climate change over the next millennium. (United Press International)
Australia's Great Barrier Reef will lose most of it coral cover by 2050 and, at worst, the world�s largest coral system could collapse by 2100 because of global warming. (Reuters, Associated Press)
A climate expert with the Natural Resources Defense Council�s climate center says snowpack may decrease by as much as 50 percent in the Rocky Mountains in coming decades, resulting in disastrous consequences for an already drought-stricken area. (Aspen Daily News)
European researchers have found that the unpredictable nature of how and when a slab of snow falls apart may make avalanches almost impossible to predict. (Nature)
A worldwide system of ocean floats is being developed to help scientists forecast potentially devastating events like floods or droughts months or even years in advance. (ScienCentral News)
Researchers say seasonal fluctuations in a region�s climate, rather than consistently high annual temperatures or levels of rainfall, play an important role in causing malaria epidemics in the African highlands. (Newswise)
Researchers say expected temperature increases over the next several decades could damage Texas� agricultural output by as much as 25 percent. (Country World News)
Research conducted at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory shows that New Mexico�s northern mountains could see a 30 percent drop in their average winter snowpack by 2050. (KOBTV.com)
The Pacific atoll nation of Tuvalu was inundated during high or �king� tides this week, giving weight to dark predictions that it will become the first victim of rising global sea levels. (Nature)
Climate change could boost yields from some of America�s most important crops, including soybeans, according to plant biologists who have simulated expected atmospheric conditions of 2050 in a U.S. field. (Nature)
Global warming will diminish the amount of water stored as snow in the western United States by up to 70 percent in the coastal mountains over the next 50 years, according to a new climate change model. (The Seattle Times)
New Zealand�s alpine industry is in line to benefit from an Australian climate meltdown that threatens to cut snowfall by up to 20 percent. (Fairfax New Zealand Limited)
Researchers say several factors, particularly changes in the Arctic Oscillation, are responsible for the decrease in the Arctic�s ice extent and thickness over the past several decades. (United Press International)
Europe�s weather could flip from floods to droughts every year as climate change kicks in, according to scientists who have modeled the mechanisms behind the continent�s most recent bouts of extreme weather. (New Scientist)
A rise in ozone levels, particularly during the summer, pushes up mortality rates, according to South Korea researchers. (Medical News Today)
Researchers say aerosols, tiny atmospheric particles made up of various elements and produced by a range of sources, have become a prominent concern due to their ability to influence atmospheric and hydrologic phenomena. (Newswise)
Scientists debate whether adding iron to oceans, so they absorb more carbon dioxide, will reduce the amount of greenhouse gases warming the planet. (San Diego Union Tribune)
Erosion of topsoil, already a serious problem in Australia, China, and parts of the U.S., threatens modern civilization, researchers warn. (Guardian Unlimited)
A warming climate threatens tropical mountain forests that strip moisture from clouds and supply water to millions of people in Africa and Latin America, according to a UN report. (Environmental News Network)
Half the world�s coral reefs could be wiped out or badly damaged by the end of the century because of climate change, according to a U.S. ocean scientist. (Environmental Media Services)
A small, but growing number of atmospheric scientists are investigating whether land-use changes are a major cause of global warming. (The Christian Science Monitor)
A University of Utah researcher says the study of tropopause cirrus clouds, found high in the atmosphere, is crucial in predicting future climate changes. (The Daily Utah Chronicle)
A University of Edinburgh scientist says climate change may have been slowed by an increase in the growth rate of trees in the Amazon rainforests. (The Scotsman)
Researchers at the University of California-Berkeley have linked population declines of California�s desert bighorn sheep with the effects of climate change. (University of California-Berkeley)
Scientists at the University of California-Irvine will use the IBM supercomputer, called the Earth System Modeling Facility (ESMF) to simulate how pressures on the planet�s climate will affect climate conditions during the next 300 years. (Enterpriseitplanet.com)
Meteorologists continue to debate the correct formula for computing the wind chill index. (New York Times)
A research scientist at Cornell College of Veterinary medicine says lobsters in New York�s Long Island Sound are dying of suffocation as warmer temperatures cause a build-up of calcium in their gills. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
NASA scientists are working with NOAA and the National Weather Service to train forecasters how to interpret data from NASA�s Terra and Aqua satellites that provide much more clarity and detail. (Palm Beach Post)
The orbits of 27 free-floating objects in Earth�s uppermost atmosphere have not dropped as much as expected over the last 30 years as the thermosphere has cooled and decreased in density. (New Scientist)
A series of experiments, some involving over half a million ping-pong balls and a ski slope, are helping scientists understand the complex physics underlying avalanches. (New Scientist)
Scientists have observed for the first time a molecule high in the atmosphere that may be a key player in ozone depletion. (UPI, Discovery.com)
A release of methane into the atmosphere may have caused a brief but severe episode of global warming during the dinosaur age. (BBC)
Researchers in several western states are studying how climate change and its impact on snowfall in the mountains affect wildfire and forest growth. (The Missoulian)
Researchers are using high-tech sensors on buoys off the southern Africa coast to monitor changes in temperature that could affect climate all the way to Europe. (The Charleston Post and Courier)