Arctic Sea Ice Just Hit Its Eighth-Lowest Minimum Ever Recorded
The Arctic ice cap melted to hundreds of thousands of square miles below average this summer. Climate change is pushing temperatures up most rapidly in the polar regions and left the extent of Arctic sea ice at 1.79 million square miles at the end of the summer melt season. This is the time when it reaches its lowest area for the year, before … Read More
These Are the Crazy Climate Records from 2016 You Haven’t Heard Much About
By now, we’ve all heard that 2016 was the hottest year on record, and that heat-trapping greenhouse gases hit their highest concentration ever, surpassing 400 parts per million for the first time in nearly 1 million years. But there are other climate change-related records that have flown more under the radar. Several of those records were… Read More
July Was Record Hot for Parts of Alaska and the West
The northernmost city in the United States just had its hottest July on record, as other spots in Alaska had their hottest month overall. Heat records also fell in a few western cities, as well as the fearsomely hot Death Valley, where July was the hottest month ever recorded on Earth. Those hotspots stood out in what was the 10th hottest July on … Read More
Massachusetts May Overlook Climate Impacts of Biofuels
Massachusetts is considering a plan that would classify wood pellets and other tree products as sources of renewable energy, allowing the logging industry to contribute to the state’s climate goals to cut greenhouse gas emissions. However, research shows that burning biomass to generate electricity can actually make climate change worse by … Read More
Global Warming Is Fueling Arizona’s Monstrous Monsoons
Summer in Arizona and throughout the Southwest is monsoon season, which means a daily pattern of afternoon thunderstorms, flash floods, dramatic dust clouds and spectacular displays of lightning over the desert. As the climate changes, Arizona’s monsoon rainfall is becoming more intense even as daily average rainfall in parts of the state has … Read More
Extreme Heat Will Hit India’s Most Vulnerable the Hardest
A flurry of studies in recent months have laid bare the significant threat posed by extreme heat in a warming world. Perhaps nowhere is this threat more apparent than in India and other parts of South Asia, where intense heat waves collide with a large, vulnerable population. If greenhouse gas emissions aren’t brought under control, global warming… Read More
Alphabet Turns to Molten Salt to Store Clean Energy
Using giant vats of molten salt and antifreeze under the codename “Malta,” Google's parent company Alphabet is joining Tesla and smaller companies that are developing ways to store wind and solar power affordably to expand renewables and combat climate change. Alphabet’s X research lab is developing a cutting-edge molten salt technology that aims … Read More
A History of Global Warming, In Just 35 Seconds
Last year, there was the temperature spiral. This year, it’s the temperature circle that’s making the trend of global warming crystal clear. A new video shows the rhythm of global warming for countries around the world, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. Bars representing each country’s annual average temperature anomaly pulse up and down. It's like … Read More
