Climate

Climate

Rivers may gush under sullied skies

By dimming sunlight and curbing evaporation, air pollution can increase the amount of water flowing through rivers, new simulations suggest.

Animals

Lacking ice, huge walrus herd congregates on Alaska shore

A large group of walruses has hauled out on the beach near Point Lay, Alaska. The animals have been forced onto shore due to a lack of sea ice in the region.

Climate

Missing winds probably foiled 2014’s chance for El Niño

Lack of antitrade winds probably hampered 2014 El Niño.

Climate

19th century chronicles offer clues to mystery volcano

Meteorological records narrow down the time and place of a massive volcanic eruption that helped trigger a decade of extreme cold.

Earth

Shrinking ancient sea may have spawned Sahara Desert

The Saharan Desert probably formed 7 million years ago as the ancient Tethys Sea, the forerunner of the Mediterranean Sea, shrank.

Earth

Warming alone triggered Antarctic ice shelf collapse

Warming surface temperatures, not an unstable foundation, probably doomed Antarctica’s Larsen B ice shelf.

Climate

Greenhouse gases reached new records in 2013

Levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere rose more last year than any other year since 1984, according to a September 9 report by the World Meteorological Organization.

Environment

Carbon capture and storage finally approaching debut

Carbon capture and storage offers a way to rein in global carbon emissions. But financial and regulatory obstacles, as well as public fears, are delaying the technology’s long-awaited implementation.

Climate

Multiple oceans may help stall global warming

The Atlantic and Southern oceans, not the Pacific, may be largely to blame for the recent pause in rising global temperatures.

Oceans

World’s largest ocean dead zone may shrink as Earth warms

North Pacific dead zone may grow smaller, not expand, as climate change weakens Pacific Ocean trade winds.

Earth

Siberian crater mystery may be solved

Thawing permafrost probably burped a ground-breaking methane bubble that ripped the huge hole in the Yamal peninsula.

Climate

Cell phone towers monitor African rains

Scientists used cell phone towers to monitor African rains, a method that could track weather in regions without robust meteorological infrastructure.