Weather Service to Add Major Might to Computing Power
The NWS plans to use $25 million of the $48 million provided to it in the Sandy supplemental bill, along with funds that are called for in President Obama’s fiscal year 2014 budget proposal, to bring about "unprecedented" computing upgrades — going from an operational computing capacity of 213 peak teraflops at the end of the current fiscal year, t… Read More
Study: 97 percent Agreement on Manmade Global Warming
The research, which is the most comprehensive analysis of climate research to date, finds that 97.1 percent of the studies published between 1991 to 2011 that expressed a position on manmade climate change agreed that it was happening, and that it was due to human activity. The study looked at peer reviewed research that mentioned climate change … Read More
As Oceans Warm, Fish Are Finding New ZIP Codes
The study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, employs a novel index that creates a fish thermometer of sorts, teasing out evidence of population shifts from fishery catch records during the past four decades. The study is the first to detect climate change-related shifts in the range of fish species on a global scale. In doing so, it provid… Read More
Good News, Bad News from New EIA Emissions Analysis
There was good news and bad to be mined from a state-by-state analysis of carbon emissions over a decade, which was released this week by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Overall, the EIA reported that between 2000 and 2010, 38 states saw an overall drop in their annual energy-related carbon emissions, but between 2009 and 2010, … Read More
Amid Rapid Arctic Warming, U.S. Releases New Strategy
With ministers from the eight Arctic states meeting this week in Kiruna, Sweden, for the 2013 ministerial meeting of the Arctic Council, the Obama administration has laid out a broad new U.S. Arctic policy that sets strategic goals for how the U.S. will cope with a rapidly changing Arctic region.… Read More
Tinderbox-Dry Western U.S. at High Risk of Major Wildfires
The anticipated escalation in U.S. wildfire activity comes after the slowest start to wildfires in at least 10 years, according to Jeremy Sullens, a forecaster at NIFC. As of May 3, the country had seen 13,150 wildfires, which have burned about 153,000 acres. Due to a combination of drought and record heat, 2012 saw one of the most destructive wild… Read More
Warmer Climate Threatens Africa’s Vital Cassava Crop
A plant which is a staple food crop for millions of people across Africa is at risk from disease as regional temperatures rise, scientists say. The plant, cassava, is a significant source of food and income, and is an important industrial crop, and there is concern that serious food shortages may result and poverty worsen. Experts say the spread of… Read More
Wildfire Interactive Helps Track the Springs Fire Blaze
With the weather lending a helping hand, officials were cautiously optimistic that the raging fire, called the Springs Fire, near Los Angeles was being brought under control as of late Saturday. Firefighters reportedly had contained more than 50 percent of the fire, as they were aided by calmer winds and cooler temperatures, and Sunday's forecast h… Read More
