"Smog Blog" for Central America and Caribbean Debuts
September 30, 2008NASA and its partners unveil a new way to connect satellite air quality data with communities in Central America and the Caribbean.
Marine 'Dead Zones' Leave Crabs Gasping
September 29, 2008Crustaceans are the first to gasp for air when oxygen levels get low, according to a new finding that suggests that low-oxygen zones are more widespread than thought. (New Scientist)
The Hills are Alive? How Islands Came to Rise atop the Himalayas
September 28, 2008Home to hundreds of the world's loftiest mountains, including Everest, the Himalayas take their name from a Sanskrit word meaning "the Abode of Snow," but parts of these lofty mountains were once sun-kissed isles glistening in a now-vanished sea. (USA Today)
NASA Data Show Arctic Saw Fastest August Sea Ice Retreat on Record
September 26, 2008NASA data are showing that for a four-week period in August 2008, sea ice melted faster during that period than ever before.
Heat-Trapping Emissions Rise Globally
September 26, 2008Worldwide emissions of heat-trapping carbon dioxide from fuel burning and cement production increased by 3.5 percent per year from 2000 to 2007, nearly four times the growth rate in the 1990s, according to a new report. (The New York Times)
'Chemical Equator' Keeps Polluted Air in the North
September 26, 2008Wrapping around Earth's equator like a belt, a boundary of air is keeping the polluted atmosphere of the Northern Hemisphere separate from the relatively pristine south. (Discovery News)
Australia Shakier than Many Think
September 25, 2008An award-winning geologist says Australia is not as geologically stable as many people think and seismic activity, which began millions of years ago, continues to this day. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
World's Oldest Rocks Discovered in Canada
September 25, 2008Scientists say they have discovered the oldest rocks on Earth in Canada, giving them a glimpse at the origins of the planet. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Could Climate Change Fade Fall Foliage?
September 25, 2008Biologists are studying how temperature affects the development of autumn colors and whether the warming climate could mute them, prolong the foliage viewing season or delay it. (ABC News)
Why Earth's Magnetic Field Flip-Flops
September 25, 2008Every so often, Earth's magnetic field flips on its head, turning the magnetic North Pole into the South Pole and vice versa, and a new hypothesis on the origins of Earth's magnetic field could shed light on why the flip-flop occurs. (Discovery News)
Cool Summer, Warm Future: Extreme Heat Days Increase for Southern California
September 23, 2008Despite a moderate summer, the heat is rising in Southern California.
NASA Dispatches Rubber Ducks for Science
September 23, 2008When a sophisticated science probe failed to return any data about whether pools of melted glacial ice were showing up in the ocean, a NASA researcher turned to a decidedly low-tech solution: a brigade of rubber ducks. (Discovery News)
Acidifying Oceans are Brewing Up an Underwater Din
September 23, 2008The big blue ocean is getting noisier. Sound can now travel further than it did a century ago, thanks to carbon emissions that have made the oceans more acidic. (New Scientist)
Clearer Skies Have Brought More Rain
September 19, 2008Air pollution has dropped over recent decades, and the extra sunlight entering the atmosphere has led to a steady rise in average rainfall over land. (New Scientist)
No Plant CO2 Relief in Warm World
September 18, 2008Plants are unlikely to soak up more carbon dioxide from the air as the planet warms, research suggests. (BBC News)
Permafrost May Not Thaw Even During Global Warming
September 18, 2008The impact of warming on the permafrost may not be as bad as forecast, according to evidence that comes in the form of a wedge of ancient ice found at an old mining site in the Yukon in Canada. (The New York Times)
Arctic Ice in "Death Spiral," is Near Record Low
September 17, 2008The Arctic Ocean's sea ice has shrunk to its second smallest area on record, close to 2007's record-shattering low, scientists report, and may disappear in the summers within a couple of decades, according to an Arctic climate expert. (National Geographic News)
Ozone Hole Larger than Last Year
September 16, 2008The ozone hole is larger in 2008 than the previous year but is not expected to reach the size seen two years ago, according to the World Meteorological Organization. (Agence France-Presse)
Mega-Tsunami Dumped Tonga's Coral Boulders
September 16, 2008Sitting on the west coast of the flat, unassuming island of Tongatapu in the South Pacific Ocean are seven giant boulders made of coral that may represent the largest rocks ever deposited by a mega-tsunami, which stormed ashore thousands of years ago. (Discovery News)
Another Huge Quake to Strike China Within 10 Years?
September 15, 2008China's massive earthquake last spring left three major nearby fault lines twice as likely to produce strong quakes in coming years, according to a recent study. (National Geographic News)
M.I.T. Professor to Prove Earth's 'Great Dying'
September 12, 2008Two colossal events in Earth's history took place about 250 million years ago: a gigantic volcanic eruption and massive extinction of species, and a professor has won a major grant to explore if the events were related. (National Public Radio)
Antarctic Sea Ice Increases Despite Warming
September 12, 2008The amount of sea ice around Antarctica has grown in recent Septembers in what could be an unusual side-effect of global warming, experts say. (New Scientist and Reuters)
Old-Growth Forests Help Combat Climate Change
September 11, 2008Old forests may be more efficient than previously believed, according to biologists who found that existing data for temperate and boreal forests suggests that old trees continue to actively capture carbon and store it in their wood. (Scientific American)
Honey, Climate Change is Shrinking the Species
September 11, 2008The old adage that bigger is better could be about to go out of fashion, as ecologists say climate change will shrink species. (New Scientist)
Climate Change Gave Dinosaurs a Lucky Break
September 11, 2008For millions of years, dinosaurs were overshadowed by their crocodilian cousins, but then these arch rivals disappeared thanks to climate change, and dinosaurs had the evolutionary advantage. (New Scientist)
Vesuvius Still an Eruption Risk
September 10, 2008French and Italian scientists said they could not rule out another cataclysmic explosion by Vesuvius, the volcano that destroyed Pompeii in A.D. 79. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Giant Underground Fossil Forests Show Record of Warming
September 9, 2008Huge tracts of prehistoric rain forest ravaged by global warming more than 300 million years ago have been found preserved underneath the U.S. Midwest, according to scientists. (National Geographic News)
Arctic Ice Hints at Warming, Specialists Say
September 6, 2008Leading ice specialists in Europe and the United States for the first time have agreed that a ring of navigable waters has opened all around the fringes of the cap of sea ice drifting on the warming Arctic Ocean. (The New York Times)
Asian Soot, Smog May Boost Global Warming in USA
September 5, 2008Smog, soot and other particles like the kind often seen hanging over Beijing add to global warming and may raise summer temperatures in the American heartland by three degrees in about 50 years, says a new federal science report. (The Associated Press)
African Dust Linked to Hurricane Strength
September 5, 2008Though winds off the Africa coast contained large amounts of dust in 2005 and 2006, which scientists say may have dampened storms in the Atlantic Ocean, the air this year is clear and powerful storms are lining up to strike the U.S. (National Public Radio)
Sea Level Rise Limited to Just Over Six Feet
September 5, 2008By studying bottlenecks in glacier flow and the fastest speeds at which ice moves, researchers have found that sea levels are unlikely to rise more than 2 meters [6.6 feet] by 2100. (New Scientist)
Earth's Windiest Region Confirmed by Crewed Flight
September 4, 2008For the first time, research planes have flown in the windiest region on Earth – Cape Farewell in Greenland – to check computer simulations of the wind, and its possible role in world climate systems. (National Geographic News)
Supercontinent Pangaea Pushed, Not Sucked, Into Place
September 4, 2008A plume of superheated rock from deep in Earth's crust welled up between the ancient continents, pushing them apart until they collided to form Pangaea, a new study proposes. (National Geographic News)
Major Ice-Shelf Loss for Canada
September 3, 2008The floating tongues of ice attached to Ellesmere Island, which have lasted for thousands of years, have seen almost a quarter of their cover break away. (BBC News)
Strongest Storms Grow Stronger Yet
September 3, 2008A new study finds that the strongest of hurricanes and typhoons have become even stronger over the last two and a half decades, adding grist to the contentious debate over whether global warming has already made storms more destructive. (The New York Times)
Seas Will Rise Much Faster Than Thought
September 3, 2008Melting Greenland ice could cause oceans to rise by more than a foot (30 centimeters) over the next hundred years, and the resulting sea level rise, spurred by global warming, may happen three times faster than previously predicted. (National Geographic News)
Some Seaweed Hampers Coral Recovery
September 2, 2008Marine scientists have discovered some types of seaweed are affecting the speed of coral recovery after damage from bleaching and storms. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Why Hurricane Gustav Didn't Become a Monster
September 2, 2008Hurricane Gustav had the potential to become a monster hurricane, but two factors intervened: the storm's eye partly deteriorated over western Cuba, and upper-level winds were strong enough to keep the hurricane from quickly regaining power over the Gulf of Mexico. (National Geographic News)
Hurricane Forecast: "No Let Up" in Weeks Ahead
September 2, 2008Just as Hurricane Gustav was dissipating and three tropical storms were brewing in the Atlantic, forecasters predicted that September hurricane activity would be well above normal for the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season. (National Geographic News)
Climate 'Hockey Stick' is Revived
September 1, 2008A new study by climate scientists behind the controversial 1998 "hockey stick" graph suggests their earlier analysis was broadly correct. (BBC News)
Beyond Carbon: Scientists Worry About Nitrogen's Effects
September 1, 2008Public discussion of complicated climate change is largely reduced to carbon: carbon emissions, carbon footprints, carbon trading, but other chemicals have large roles in the planet’s health, and the one Dr. Giblin is looking for in Arctic mud, and that a growing number of other researchers are also concentrating on, is nitrogen. (The New York Times)