The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. In 2024, Asia experienced its warmest or second warmest year on …
The global ocean stores more than 90% of the heat associated with observed greenhouse-gas-attributed global warming. Using satellite altimetry observations and a large suite of climate models, we conclude that observed estimates of 0–700 dbar global ocean warming since 1970 are likely biased low. This underestimation is attributed to poor …
Scientists assigned a grade for global ocean health on Tuesday, giving the world's waters a "D" on an annual oceans report card, citing overfishing, pollution, climate change, and lack of protections as key problems. But the score for nations' territorial waters—generally those that are within 200 miles (322 kilometers) of …
A new international report "An updated synthesis of the impacts of ocean acidification on marine biodiversity" shows beyond doubt that ocean acidification is an issue of serious environmental and policy concern. This timely synthesis has considered the impacts of ocean acidification across many levels of biodiversity, and as such represents …
Fossil fuel power generation and other industrial emissions of carbon dioxide are a threat to global climate, yet many economies will remain reliant on these technologies for several decades. Carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) in deep geological formations provides an effective option to remove these emissions from the climate …
For centuries, Turkish rulers in Istanbul have realized the strategic importance of the narrow Bosporus strait, which famously divides east and west, and have pledged to build a waterway that bypasses the channel to more efficiently connect north and south. The latest proposed version of this crazy scheme is called …
Observations and modeling studies indicate that enhanced vegetation activities over high latitudes under an elevated CO2 concentration accelerate surface warming by reducing the surface albedo. In this study, we suggest that vegetation-atmosphere-sea ice interactions over high latitudes can induce an additional amplification of Arctic warming. Our hypothesis is tested by …
It is widely believed that the Sahara desert is no more than ~2–3 million years (Myr) old, with geological evidence showing a remarkable aridification of north Africa at the onset of the Quaternary ice ages. Before that time, north African aridity was mainly controlled by the African summer monsoon (ASM), …
In the last decade, the northern Arabian Sea has witnessed a radical shift in the composition of winter phytoplankton blooms, which previously comprised mainly of diatoms, the unicellular, siliceous photosynthetic organisms favoured by nutrient-enriched waters from convective mixing. These trophically important diatom blooms have been replaced by widespread blooms of …
Climate variability in the Norwegian Sea was investigated in terms of ocean heat and fresh water contents of Atlantic water above a reference surface, using hydrographic data during spring 1951–2010. The main processes acting on this variability were examined and then quantified. The area-averaged water mass cooled and freshened, but …
European Commissioner for Development said on Monday the European Union (EU) will continue supporting Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to address their specific vulnerabilities and challenges. Commissioner Andris Piebalgs made the remarks in an international conference in Samoa, according to an EU statement issued in Brussels. "We have been, and …
Climate change has its sights on its next victim, and it's one of America's favorite vacation spots. Hawaii is known for its near perfect weather, but a new report from the University of Hawaii's Sea Grant program states that islands in the Pacific might be unrecognizable in the coming years …
Small island states facing a "frightening" rise in sea levels will seek investments in everything from solar energy to fisheries to boost their economies at a U.N. summit next week. Leaders will meet in Samoa in the Pacific from Sept. 1-4 to drum up partnerships with companies, development banks and …
Changes in sea level are driven by a range of natural and anthropogenic forcings. To better understand the response of global mean thermosteric sea level change to these forcings, we compare three observational data sets to experiments of 28 climate models with up to five different forcing scenarios for 1957–2005. …
The Atlantic Ocean has masked global warming this century by soaking up vast amounts of heat from the atmosphere in a shift likely to reverse from around 2030 and spur fast temperature rises, scientists said. The theory is the latest explanation for a slowdown in the pace of warming at …
Factors involved in the recent pause in the rise of global mean temperatures are examined seasonally. For 1999 to 2012, the hiatus in surface warming is mainly evident in the central and eastern Pacific. It is manifested as strong anomalous easterly trade winds, distinctive sea-level pressure patterns, and large rainfall …
A commonly held belief that global warming will diminish oxygen concentrations in the ocean looks like it may not be entirely true. According to new research published in Science magazine, just the opposite is likely the case in the northern Pacific Ocean, with its anoxic zone expected to shrink in …
Understanding the response of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) to global warming requires quantitative data on ENSO under different climate regimes. Here, we present a reconstruction of ENSO in the eastern tropical Pacific spanning the last 10 thousand years (ka) derived from oxygen isotopes in fossil mollusk shells from Peru. …
Despite advances toward sustainable development, small island developing States (SIDS) continue to face many challenges, according to ‘Trends in Sustainable Development: SIDS,' a publication issued by the UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) Division for Sustainable Development (DSD) as an input to the Third International Conference on SIDS. …
For more than a century, Bill Taylor's family has used the calm, protected waters of Puget Sound to raise oysters, planting billions of larvae in underwater beds and then harvesting them to ship to some of the finest restaurants in the world. But then something went wrong. After the hatchery …
The fact that water vapor is the most dominant greenhouse gas underscores the need for an accurate understanding of the changes in its distribution over space and time. Although satellite observations have revealed a moistening trend in the upper troposphere, it has been unclear whether the observed moistening is a …
