32-Foot-Plus Waves From Hurricane Sandy Topple Records
After reviewing wave height data, the National Weather Service office in Philadelphia has determined that the significant wave heights recorded at two buoys, one of which was near the entrance to New York Harbor, set records for the largest waves seen in this region since such records began in 1975.… Read More
Amid Energy Boom, Report Warns of Unsustainable Path
The oil and natural gas boom in the U.S. is having far-reaching effects on the global energy landscape, according to the “World Energy Outlook report released by the International Energy Agency (IEA). The report shows that the U.S. is likely to become the largest global oil producer by about 2020, overtaking Saudi Arabia and Russia, although Saudi… Read More
Senator Urges NOAA Not To Change Sandy Classification
As Climate Central reported on Nov. 2, the storm status change has major implications for property owners who are filing insurance claims for storm damage, since most hurricane insurance policies have deductibles that would have been triggered if the storm still been a named hurricane at the time of landfall, and if hurricane warnings were in effec… Read More
2012 May Rank As 2nd Most Disastrous Year Since 1980
Disaster loss data can reflect the frequency and/or intensity of extreme weather and climate events, but socioeconomic factors, such as population growth and coastal development, for example, also influence the data.… Read More
Rising Sea Level May Trigger Groundwater Floods
In a report released Sunday in Nature Climate Change, Kolja Rotzoll and Charles Fletcher predict that in some areas, freshwater bubbling up from underground could more than double the flooding caused by intruding seas alone. “If the underground water table is already close to the surface, it’s going to come out, Rotzoll said.… Read More
U.S. Military Warned to Prepare for Climate Change
An expert report, prepared for the intelligence community by the National Academy of Sciences, warns that the security establishment is going to have start planning for natural disasters, sea-level rise, drought,epidemics and the other consequences of climate change. … Read More
Kyoto Protocol: Australia Signs up for Second Phase
Negotiations towards a new global treaty on climate change took a small step forward on Friday as the Australian government announced it would join up to a continuation of the Kyoto protocol beyond 2012. At the end of this month, governments will meet in Doha, Qatar, to discuss a new treaty that would be signed in 2015 and come into force from 202… Read More
Aerial Pictures Show Hurricane Sandy’s Destruction
"Sandy taught us yet again that not all Cat-1 hurricanes are created equal: the superstorm's enormous fetch over the Atlantic produced storm surge and wave erosion of historic proportions," said USGS Director Marcia McNutt. "We have seized this opportunity to gather unique data on a major coastline-altering event." … Read More
