The rate at which the planet warms in response to the ongoing buildup of heat-trapping carbon dioxide gas could increase in the future, according to new simulations of a comparable warm period more than 50 million years ago.
Read moreSteadily reducing fossil fuel emissions over coming years will prevent millions of premature deaths and help avoid the worst of climate change without causing a large spike in short-term warming that some studies predict, new analysis from finds. The finding dispels the misconception that the air-quality and climate benefits of transitioning to clean energy play out at different timescales — a sticking point in recent climate negotiations.
Read moreAbout 466 million years ago, long before the age of the dinosaurs, the Earth froze. The seas began to ice over at the Earth's poles, and new species evolved with the new temperatures. The cause of this ice age was a mystery, until now: a new study argues that the ice age was caused by global cooling, triggered by extra dust in the atmosphere from a giant asteroid collision in outer space.
Read moreCurrent scenarios used to inform climate policy have a weakness in that they typically focus on reaching specific climate goals in 2100 – an approach which may encourage risky pathways that could have long-term negative effects. A new study presents a novel scenario framework that focuses on capping global warming at a maximum level with either temperature stabilization or reversal thereafter.
Read moreScientists say bolder actions to protect the world's coral reefs will benefit all ecosystems, human livelihoods and improve food security.
Read moreThick, impenetrable ice slabs are expanding rapidly on the interior of Greenland's ice sheet, where the ice is normally porous and able to reabsorb meltwater. These slabs are instead sending meltwater spilling into the ocean, according to a new assessment, threatening to increase the country's contribution to sea level rise by as much as 2.9 inches by 2100.
Read moreScientists report that they accurately predicted the nation's extensive tornado outbreak of late May 2019 nearly 4 weeks before it began.
Read moreModeling currents together with wind and waves provides more accurate predictions for weather forecasts and climate scientists.
Read moreA new study has estimated for the first time how the eruption of Mount Tambora changed the probability of the cold and wet European 'year without a summer' of 1816. It found that the observed cold conditions were almost impossible without the eruption, and the wet conditions would have been less likely.
Read moreA new article presents 19 high-coverage penguin genome sequences. Adding this to the two previously published penguin genomes, there are now genome sequences available for all living penguin species. Here, the Penguin Genome Consortium, made up of researchers from 10 countries, has produced an unparalleled amount of information that covers an entire biological order. Research from evolution, the impact of human activities impact, and environmental changes, will benefit from this work.
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