Glacial earthquakes are a special type of earthquake generated in cold, icy regions. First discovered in the northern hemisphere more than 20 years ago, these quakes occur when huge chunks of ice fall from glaciers into the sea. Until now, only a very few have been found in the Antarctic. In a study published in Geophysical Research Letters, I […]
China has seen an explosive growth in its renewable installation, with coal’s share in its energy mix edging down in recent years. China’s solar energy capacity has surpassed that of coal-fired power for the first time ever. “As of the end of July this year, China’s installed solar power capacity reached 1.286 billion kilowatts,” China’s National Energy […]
Weather forecasters have warned that parts of Europe will be entering “flash-flood season” following a blistering summer. Europe’s blistering summer was a “grim illustration” of human-caused climate change. That’s what the European Commission said in June, when much of the continent was already baking under its third heatwave of the year. July and August provided […]
Rock glaciers look very different from conventional glaciers. Instead of exposed ice, they resemble sprawling fields of loose rock, while potentially concealing large quantities of ice below the surface. These formations are widespread across Utah’s Wasatch and Uinta ranges and can also be found on the Colorado Plateau in the La Sal Mountains near Moab. […]
Virginia Tech chemist and chemical engineer Guoliang “Greg” Liu and his research team have developed a method for transforming polyvinyl chloride (PVC) into polyalphaolefin, an important ingredient used in lubricants including engine oil. Published Aug. 5 in Nature, the work could offer a way to address two separate environmental problems at once: the difficulty of recycling […]
El Niño can supercharge the impacts global warming. But burning fossil fuels could also be strengthening the destructive climate phenomenon. A new study suggests that El Niños – the natural climatic chaos agent that pops up periodically and spikes global temperatures – are getting stronger because of human-caused climate change. El Niños are more than […]
Marine heatwaves are increasingly being recognized as more than an environmental problem. New research warns that prolonged periods of unusually warm ocean temperatures can also threaten human physical and mental health. Researchers from Adelaide University and the University of Hong Kong say marine heatwaves should be treated as an important public health concern. They argue […]
Scientists have identified a previously unknown natural process in the Arctic that can cause the number of cloud-forming particles in the atmosphere to surge. The discovery could have important implications for cloud cover, how much sunlight is reflected back into space, and how the Arctic responds to future climate change. The findings, published August 5 […]
A lush knee-high jungle grows in the Arctic, but warming is changing Earth’s mini-greenhouse. With no tall trees reaching to the sky, Alaska’s North Slope tundra can look desolate. But up close, “the tundra’s kind of like the jungle”, says Adam Bloom, a Florida Atlantic University plant biology student. Except this lush Arctic jungle tops […]
The average global sea surface temperature outside polar regions reached 21.1°C on Saturday. The world’s oceans have reached their highest daily temperature on record, with global sea surface temperatures hitting 21.1°C on 22 August – a new high made particularly striking by the time of year, according to the European Union’s climate change data. The […]
