Heat and Threat of Wildfires Blaze on in Australia
a delayed monsoon is helping to heat Australia to record levels, with weather forecasters adding new colors onto weather maps to indicate temperatures up to 129°F. While the wildfires have diminished some, the heat is forecast to return to Queensland and other areas during the weekend into early next week, and the fire danger remains "extreme" in s… Read More
Tell Me Why: Climate Science Is So Important
What’s seen from the sky can tell us a lot about what’s happening on Earth. Scientists rely on data gleaned from satellites for information on how our climate already has changed, and for clues on how it might change in the future. Scientist Jeff Privette tells us more in Tell Me Why.… Read More
2012 Year in Pictures: The Top 10 Most Striking Images
Call it our year in pictures as 2012 may be remembered for some of these top 10 images.… Read More
Melting Permafrost Will Boost Temps, But Not Quickly
Climate scientists have long known that human-generated greenhouse emissions are only part of the story with global warming. A rising planetary temperature sets in motion all sorts of secondary effects that can boost the temperature even higher — effects like melting Arctic sea ice, rising levels of heat-trapping water vapor in the atmosphere, and … Read More
A Forecast for the American West: Hot and Hotter
Over the summer and on into the fall, images of flames, smoke plumes, firefighting teams and ruined homes have been on replay, and with good reason: As of Aug. 31, this year tied the record for total acreage burned by wildfires, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. More than 8.4 million acres have burned to date — an area larger than … Read More
Image of the Day: Satellite Spots Parched U.S. Landscape
The map is based on an index called the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, or NDVI, which is a measure of how plant leaves absorb visible light and reflect infrared light. According to NASA, drought-stressed vegetation reflects more visible light and less infrared than healthy vegetation.… Read More
Image of the Day: An Elephant on Mars
No, you’re not hallucinating. That really does look like an elephant, and it really is on the surface of Mars, photographed by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Before you begin speculating about the Martians who carved this enormous sculpture, however—and about how they got an elephant over to Mars to sit for the artist—you need to realize that … Read More
Image of the Day: The Wildfires that Continue to Burn
A view of the numerous fires that continued to rage throughout the northwestern United States as of September 17, 2012 taken from NASA’s Aqua satellite. You can also monitor and obtain stats in on the blazes in real-time using Climate Central’s new interactive wildfires map. Wildfires such as these have been burning throughout the Western U.S. … Read More
