Ancient Earth Was a Barren Waterworld
December 30, 2008Calculations 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...
Scientists Eye Unusual Swarm of Yellowstone Quakes
December 29, 2008Yellowstone 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...
American Shores Face Threat of Rising Sea Level
December 26, 2008A 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...
Coral Springs Back from Tsunami
December 26, 2008Scientists 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...
Scientists Sea Salty Solution
December 22, 2008A 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...
Fall of Empires Hastened Little Ice Age
December 22, 2008The 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...
Tropics Cooled by Volcanic Eruptions
December 22, 2008Volcanic 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...
Rubber Ducks Keep NASA Guessing
December 21, 2008NASA 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...
Snowflake Maker to Improve Weather Forecasts
December 21, 2008Heavier 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 in Full Retreat
December 19, 2008Swiss 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...
Methane Bubbling Up From Undersea Permafrost?
December 19, 2008The 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...
NASA Set to Launch CO2 Hunter
December 18, 2008The 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...
Climate Outcome Hangs on Coal
December 18, 2008If 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...
Hawaiian Drillers Hit Magma Chamber
December 17, 2008A 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...
2 Trillion Tons of Ice Gone in 5 Years
December 17, 2008NASA 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...
Changes Amplify Arctic Warming
December 17, 2008Scientists say they now have unambiguous evidence that the warming in the Arctic is accelerating. (BBC News) more...
Earth's Magnetic Field Flawed
December 17, 2008In 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...
Rise in CO2 Affects Jumbo Squid
December 16, 2008Jumbo 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...
This Year is Coolest Since 2000
December 16, 2008Global 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...
Lightning Strikes Give Blizzard Warning
December 15, 2008In rare events called "thundersnows", thunder and lightning can foreshadow heavy snowfall, an effect that may prove useful for forecasters. (New Scientist) more...
Scientists Hunt Deep Sea Coral For Clues on Climate Change
December 14, 2008Scientists 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...
Canadian Scientists Predict Ice-Free Arctic Summer in 6 Years
December 14, 2008Scientists 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...
Video: No Glaciers at Glacier National Park?
December 12, 2008Scientists believe that Montana's natural wonder will melt sooner than expected. (ABC News) more...
Did Magnetic Blip Trigger Mass Extinction?
December 12, 2008A 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...
Fifth of World's Corals Dead
December 12, 2008Almost 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...
USA's Warming Due to Both Man-Made and Natural Causes
December 11, 2008Climate 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...
Hot Landslides May Have Set Off Mystery Wildfires
December 10, 2008In 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...
Nanoparticles From Melting Glaciers Could Trap Carbon
December 10, 2008Phytoplankton, 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...
Study Designed to Measure Ice Storm Severity
December 10, 2008An 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...
Arctic Tundra Releases Annual Methane 'Burp'
December 9, 2008A 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...
Rock and Roil: Meteorites Hitting Early Earth's Oceans May Have Helped Spawn Life
December 7, 2008A 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...
News Coverage of Climate Entering 'Trance'?
December 5, 2008An 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...
Climate Change From Poland to the Poles
December 5, 2008Representatives 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...
NASA Space Probe to Track CO2 on Earth
December 5, 2008The 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...
Colorado River to Strain Under Demand and Warming
December 5, 2008Seven 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...
Global Warming's First Mammal Victim?
December 4, 2008White lemuroid possums—otherwise known as Hemibelideus lemuroides—may have become the first mammal to disappear because of climate change. (Scientific American) more...
Climate Change is Old News: Scientists Predicted Global Warming More Than a Century Ago
December 4, 2008As 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...
Megathrust Earthquake Could Hit Asia at Any Time
December 3, 2008New 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...
Sea's Pollution Hotspots 'Missed'
December 3, 2008Large sources of pollution to the Baltic Sea have been missed by existing monitoring efforts, new research suggests. (BBC News) more...
Venice is Hit By Serious Flooding
December 1, 2008Venice has been hit by the biggest flood in more than 20 years, with waters rising 5 feet above normal. (BBC News) more...
First Inventory of Life at Poles
December 1, 2008The 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...
Carbon Detectives Are Tracking Gases in Colorado
December 1, 2008Scientists 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...
A New Picture of Early Earth
December 1, 2008Analyses 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...
Climate Change Speeding Flux of Forest Ecosystems
December 1, 2008According 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...
Your Idle Computer Could Help Calculate Global Warming
December 1, 2008Better climate models are key to understanding how best to protect the environment and food production, but they require massive computing resources. (Scientific American) more...