Trawling Seamounts Threatens Ocean's Biodiversity
August 31, 2003Hundreds of deep-sea species new to science are disappearing before they can be identified or studied, pushed to extinction by trawlers targeting undersea volcanic mountains called seamounts. (Newscientist.com)
Scientists Study Ocean's Phytoplankton
August 29, 2003With 71 percent of the world covered with oceans, tiny plants of the sea play a major role in the balance of life on the planet. (Scripps Howard)
Glaciers Dominated L.A. Skyline
August 27, 2003Despite its palm-lined boulevards, Hollywood was just miles from glaciers as little as 5,000 years ago, according to California geologists. (Discovery Channel)
Signs of an Eruption
August 27, 2003A scientist has found a way to use earthquakes to predict when volcanoes will erupt. (BBCNews)
Prestige Oil Spill Far Worse Than Thought
August 27, 2003The oil spill from the tanker Prestige, which sank off Spain in November 2002, has been far worse than previously claimed, the Spanish government has disclosed, perhaps as bad as the Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska in 1989. (Newscientist.com)
Researchers Measure Atmospheric Isotope Buildup
August 26, 2003Researchers found that deuterium, a naturally occurring stable isotope of hydrogen, concentrates itself in molecular hydrogen (H2) in the atmosphere, lending insight into the hydrogen cycle and possibly having ramifications for the use of fuel cells as an alternative energy source. (Terradaily.com)
Montana Fires Force Frantic Evacuations
August 25, 2003Statewide, 36 wildfires have devoured big bites of parched pine forest and tinder-dry grasslands, destroying more than 400,000 acres so far - only a small percentage of its total size, but equivalent to half the state of Rhode Island. (Reuters)
Heatwave's Warning for Future of Farming
August 23, 2003Europe may be breathing a sigh of relief as its heatwave eases, but temperature changes caused by global warming are likely to transform agriculture on both sides of the Atlantic. (newscientist.com)
Report: 2003 Ozone Hole May Be Record Size
August 22, 2003The ozone hole over the Antarctic is growing at a rate that suggests it could be headed for a record size this year, Australian scientists said on Friday. (CNN.com, ABCnews.com)
NASA Satellites Track Wildfires Worldwide
August 21, 2003U.S. Earth Observation satellites are trackng fires around the world, changing the practice of wildfire management. (VOANews, NYTimes)
Forest Fires Continue to Scorch Western Canada
August 21, 2003Officials in the province of British Columbia tightened restrictions on forest travel in order to cut down on the chance of spreading forest fires, as firefighters battle the region's worst spate of wildfires in more than 50 years. (Terradaily.com)
El Niño?s Surprising Steady Pacific Rains Can Affect World Weather
August 21, 2003Scientists using data from a NASA satellite have found El Niño events produce more of a steady rain in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and any weather pattern changes affect weather regionally and even worldwide. (Innovations-report.com)
Heatwave Caused More Than 1,300 Deaths in Portugal
August 21, 2003The hot weather that fueled a rash of wildfires this month, claiming 18 lives, also caused more than 1,300 heat-related deaths in Portugal, according to a report by national health officials to be released later Thursday. (Terradaily.com)
NASA Studying Urban Heat Effect
August 21, 2003NASA is using satellite data to determine the number of dark-colored roofs in an effort to begin promoting light-colored roofing materials and more trees to help cool things down in a warmer, more energy-intensive world. (UPI)
Toxic Algae Back Again on Lake Erie
August 21, 2003Thick as pea soup, and capable of killing you, microcystis, a toxic form of green algae, has mysteriously reappeared in the lake this time of year almost every summer since 1995. (Scripps Howard)
Coral Reef Die Off Began Centuries Ago Claim Scientists
August 20, 2003Global warming and pollution are among the modern-day threats commonly blamed for decline of coral reefs, but new research shows the downfall of those signatures of tropical oceans actually may have begun centuries ago. (SpaceDaily.com, Brightsurf.com, Sciencedaily.com)
Wind Worsens Pakistan Oil Spill
August 20, 2003An oil spill on the coast of Pakistan is sickening thousands of people in Karachi and threatening major environmental problems. The oil, from a grounded Greek oil tanker, is now being blown by strong winds onto the shore. (newscientist.com)
Heat Wave Melts Swiss Glaciers
August 20, 2003Grayed by the heat and riven with deep cracks, Switzerland's mighty Alpine glaciers are shrinking at a record rate in this summer's sizzling sun. (CNN.com)
Satellite Helps Fight Portuguese Fires
August 20, 2003European space agency satellites have been used to help fire fighters tackle the forest blazes in Portugal. (BBC News)
Global Warming Fear for Seychelles
August 19, 2003Masses of plankton, dying as global warming heats up the waters off the Seychelles, are threatening marine life in the Indian Ocean tourist haven, a government official said. (CNN.com, Reuters)
Behind This Summer?s Wild, Tragic Weather
August 15, 2003The year so far has been a record-breaker in a number of regions, according to the UN?s World Meteorological Organization. The usual suspects ? El Nino, La Nina, and global warming don?t seem to explain the unusual conditions. (The Science Christian Monitor)
Coral Nears the Crisis Point
August 14, 2003The world's coral reefs, weakened by centuries of human exploitation and abuse, may disappear this century, researchers say. (BBC News, CNN, MSNBC)
Lake Ecosystem Critical to East African Food Supply is Threatened by Climate Change
August 14, 2003In a new study directly linking climactic warming with the survival of lake organisms, researchers have found evidence that increasing air and water temperatures and related factors are shrinking fish and algae populations. (Brightsurf.com)
Atmospheric Bromine, Which Attacks Ozone Layer, is Decreasing
August 14, 2003Researchers have discovered that total bromine in the lower atmosphere, which is one of the most active destroyers of the stratospheric ozone layer, has been decreasing since 1998 and is now more than five percent below the peak reached that year. (Brightsurf.com)
Key Marine Bacteria Genes Unraveled
August 14, 2003Teams of gene scientists have unravelled the DNA of two key marine bacteria believed to play a vital role in the process of global warming. (Discovery, MSNBC, Nature)
Study: Glaciers on L.A. Doorstep 5,000 Years Ago
August 14, 2003Glaciers clung to the slopes of a mountain just 120 kilometers (75 miles) east of now-sweltering Los Angeles as recently as 5,000 years ago, according to a new study. (CNN, MSNBC)
UK Snakes Revel in Heatwave
August 14, 2003Slithering out of concealment into the Mediterranean temperatures, the UK?s reptiles are delighting in the British heatwave. (BBC News)
Global Warming is Choking the Life Out of Lake Tanganyika
August 14, 2003Lake Tanganyika in central Africa - where Henry Stanley delivered his immortal question, "Dr Livingstone, I presume?" - is in ecological crisis as a result of global warming. (Independent.co.uk)
Report: Global Warming Shrinking Arctic Ice
August 13, 2003Higher temperatures linked to global warming will melt most of the Arctic?s summer icecap by the end of the century, according to a new report. (CNN)
Climate ?Destroying Fish Stocks?
August 13, 2003A warming climate and not local fishermen is to blame for the falling fish harvests in Lake Tanganyika, according to new research findings published in the British journal Nature. (BBC News)
A New Look at Historic Hurricanes
August 13, 2003Records for Atlantic hurricanes are all shook up after government meteorologists entered more than 5,000 storm additions and alterations into their historic database last month. (Scripps Howard News Service)
NASA Funds U. of Colorado Study of Changes in Earth?s Glacier Systems
August 12, 2003Researchers at the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder will receive $1.8 million from NASA to compile an online database of the world's glaciers. (Brightsurf.com)
Researchers Find Antarctic Lake Water Will Fizz Like a Soda
August 12, 2003Water released from Lake Vostok, deep beneath the south polar ice sheet, could gush like a popped can of soda if not contained, opening the lake to possible contamination. (Brightsurf.com)
Cold Atlantic Bad for Baby Turtles
August 12, 2003An upwelling of deep, cold Atlantic Ocean water brought to the beach by tides and winds is affecting sea turtle hatchlings trying to reach the warm waters of the Gulf Stream. (CBS News)
EU Cracks Down on Climate Change 'F-gases'
August 12, 2003As Europe?s drivers turn up the air conditioning to combat a heat wave, EU regulators issued a draft law to ban the chemical used to cool cars as it is a highly potent greenhouse gas blamed for global warming. (CNN)
Canadian Satellite to Collect Data on Ozone Layer
August 12, 2003Canada's newest satellite called SCISAT was fired into orbit on this day and will help scientists probe the ozone layer. (CBC News, CBS News, CNN)
Mapping an Underseas Volcano in the Aleutians
August 12, 2003Scientists surveying deep coral habitat in Alaska's Aleutian Chain have discovered and mapped the region?s first confirmed undersea volcano. (Anchorage Daily News, CNN, MSNBC)
NASA Funds Study of Changes in Earth's Glacier Systems
August 12, 2003Researchers will receive $1.8 million from NASA to compile an online database of the world's glaciers that combines historical records with measurements from the latest technologies in satellite remote sensing. (Brightsurf.com)
Animals Fall Victim to Heat Wave
August 9, 2003As Europe swelters in abnormally high temperatures, creatures like eels, chickens, cuckoos and butterflies are finding it difficult to stay alive without new tactics. (CNN)
Cold Water, Hot Tempers
August 9, 2003Scientists are now studying why the surf is taking a dip, from water temperatures that should be in the 70's to sometimes reaching lows in the 50's. (CBS News)
US Alarmed by Fast Spread of West Nile Virus
August 8, 2003The West Nile virus is spreading faster and into new areas of the United States this year, prompting fears that the nation could be facing another record outbreak of the deadly mosquito-borne disease. (Reuters, ABC.com)
California Agency Warns of Risks in Tapping Ocean for Water
August 8, 2003Companies are lining up to help California squeeze salt from the sea in its quest for new water sources, but the agency that would approve the projects says tapping the ocean could pose serious problems for the coastline. (CNN.com, CBS.com)
Squeezing Salt from the Sea
August 8, 2003Companies are lining up to help California squeeze salt from the sea in its quest for new water sources, but the agency that would approve the projects says tapping the ocean could pose serious problems for the coastline. (CBS News)
NASA Ozone Satellite Improves Snowstorm Forecasts
August 8, 2003Scientists in sunny, hot Florida added ozone measurements from a NASA satellite into computer weather forecast models and improved several factors in a forecast of a major winter snowstorm that hit the United States in 2000. (innovations-report.com, SpaceDaily.com)
More Hurricanes Churning Toward Atlantic Coast
August 7, 2003The Atlantic Ocean is likely to generate and sustain an above-average number of tropical storms and hurricanes for the remainder of this year, government forecasters said Thursday. (Scripps-Howard)
Heatwave Part of Global Trend
August 7, 2003Britain is enjoying some of the hottest temperatures of the year at the moment but high temperatures are not just affecting this country. (BBCnews.com, NewScientist.com)
Rain or Shine? Homing In on Your Microclimate
August 7, 2003Even though they cannot change the weather, weather watchers have been doing plenty about it for centuries - plenty of observing, measuring, calculating, plotting and predicting. (NYTimes.com)
For Wines, the Paradox of Global Warming
August 6, 2003For winemakers, especially those in historically cool grape-growing regions, the changing climate has already markedly affected their lives and wines. (NYTimes.com)
Sneezing at Global Warming
August 5, 2003The glut of humanmade carbon dioxide (CO2) that is spurring global warming may have an unwelcome side effect for hay fever sufferers: It could help ragweed flourish and crowd out other plants, ecologists say. (Science)
Biological Treasure under the Sea
August 4, 2003The ocean has biodiversity hotspots that rival the richness and variety of life found in tropical rainforests, according to a new study. (Science)
Narrow Wind Causes Huge Ocean Impact
August 1, 2003A narrow but intense wind may be the mechanism responsible for the existence of a newly discovered ocean convection site east of Greenland. (Brightsurf.com)
Climate Kick from the Southern Ocean
August 1, 2003Two investigators have documented, for the first time, how a climate shift was initiated by the interplay between the southern and northern Atlantic regions at the end of the last ice age about 15,000 years ago. (Brightsurf.com)
Study Eyes Stratosphere, Weather
August 1, 2003Changes in the lower parts of the stratosphere may influence the weather below, and studying that region could improve extended-range forecasting, according to a new atmospheric analysis. (CBS News)