My Climate Change News

PHYS.ORG - Earth

European Green Deal is a double-edged sword for global emissions, analysis suggests

The European Union aims to be carbon-neutral by 2050 as part of the comprehensive Green Deal that was agreed upon four years ago. However, an analysis of the policy documents outlining the practical measures of the Green Deal shows that it will decrease carbon emissions in Europe, but also...

PHYS.ORG - Earth

Location, location, location: Snowpack storage and runoff timing in burn scars depend on site and terrain

Increasingly severe wildfires at high elevations are impacting snowpack - an important reservoir for the U.S. West. The altered landscape makes it more challenging to predict when snow will melt and how much water will be available for use. Colorado State University researchers studied the 2020...

PHYS.ORG - Earth

Oceanic life found to be thriving thanks to Saharan dust blown from thousands of kilometers away

Iron is a micronutrient indispensable for life, enabling processes such as respiration, photosynthesis, and DNA synthesis. Iron availability is often a limiting resource in today's oceans, which means that increasing the flow of iron into them can increase the amount of carbon fixed by...

Nature Climate Change

Ocean warming as a trigger for irreversible retreat of the Antarctic ice sheet

Warmer ocean conditions could impact future ice loss from Antarctica due to their ability to thin and reduce the buttressing of laterally confined ice shelves. Previous studies highlight the potential for a cold to warm ocean regime shift within the sub-shelf cavities of the two largest...

PHYS.ORG - Earth

Just a month after its launch, ESA's Arctic Weather Satellite has already delivered its first images, notably capturing Storm Boris, which has been wreaking havoc across central Europe. Equipped with a 19-channel cross-track scanning microwave radiometer, the satellite's mission is to penetrate...

PHYS.ORG - Earth

Lake ice quality degrading as planet warms - skaters, hockey players, ice truckers on thin ice

Ice may look safe for a game of pick-up hockey on the lake, but as a new study out of York University found, looks can be deceiving. Warming winters are not only affecting ice thickness and timing - when a lake freezes and thaws - but also quality, making it potentially unstable and unsafe. When...

PHYS.ORG - Earth

On Sept. 18, 2024, NOAA shared the first images of the Western Hemisphere from its GOES-19 satellite. The satellite's Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) instrument recently captured stunning views of Earth. GOES-19, NOAA's newest geostationary satellite, launched on June 25, 2024, onboard a Falcon...

New York Times - Climate Section

PHYS.ORG - Technology

'Side job, self-employed, high-paid': Behind the AI slop flooding TikTok and Facebook

Given its outlandish nature and tenuous relationship with reality, you might think this so-called "AI slop" would quickly disappear. However, it shows no sign of abating. In fact, our research suggests this kind of low-quality AI-generated content is becoming a lucrative venture for the people...

A Company's Struggles Raise Questions About the Future of Lithium Extraction in Pennsylvania

When a new study suggested that vast quantities of the critical mineral lithium could be found in Pennsylvania’s fracking wastewater, Eureka Resources seemed perfectly positioned to take advantage of the frenzy of publicity that followed. In 2023, Eureka announced it had extracted 97 percent...

A Trump Debate Comment About German Energy Policy Leaves Germans Perplexed

In his closing statement at last week’s presidential debate, Donald Trump made a blink-and-you-miss-it comment that earned a pointed response from the German government. “You believe in things like we’re not going to frack, we’re not going to take fossil fuel, we’re not going to do things...

PHYS.ORG - Earth

Wildfire activity in central Siberia, Russia, has doubled in the past 2 decades, scorching vast areas of forest and releasing carbon stored in the rich soils and permafrost underneath. The Arctic is warming faster than the rest of the world, and scientists already know that the effects of...

PHYS.ORG - Earth

The Arctic frequently experiences temperatures that support the formation of mixed-phase clouds that contain supercooled liquid droplets and ice crystals. The composition of such clouds plays a crucial role in the region's energy balance and climate system. Clouds with more liquid last longer...

New York Times - Climate Section

Schools across the country are adding trees, tent-like structures and water to their playgrounds as temperatures soar. The bare hot asphalt schoolyard of the American past is getting a redo. The schoolyard of the future has trees to play under, or canvas canopies to shade a climbing gym. Some...

PHYS.ORG - Earth

Mathematical analysis reveals that within Brazil's agriculture and livestock industry, the biofuels sector is most heavily reliant on other sectors with high greenhouse gas emissions. Brazil is a world leader in biofuel production, but the environmental sustainability of the sector has faced...

PHYS.ORG - Earth

Astronomers' new technique measures temperature of a star with high precision

Astronomers study stars by looking at the different colors of light they emit - colors they capture and analyze using spectroscopy. Now a team led by Université de Montréal's Étienne Artigau has developed a technique that uses a star's spectrum to chart variations in its temperature to the...

PHYS.ORG - Earth

Efforts to reduce the presence of harmful metals like lead in the environment are having an effect, according to the results of an EPA Victoria study. The study, titled "Trace elements in liver and muscle tissues from wild waterfowls in Australia: Risk associated with human consumption in a...

New York Times - Climate Section

Leaders around the world are asking the European Union to delay rules that would require companies to police their global supply chains. Reporting from London The European Union has been a world leader on climate change, passing groundbreaking legislation to reduce noxious greenhouse gasses. Now...

Sustainable Brands

The rapid growth of the voluntary carbon market has resulted in a mismatch between supply of and demand for quality carbon credits. As the voluntary carbon market (VCM) matures, its focus is shifting towards measures of quality and integrity. It’s becoming clear, however, that “quality” and...

Grist Climate and Energy

Climate change is sending ticks into new areas. Georgia researchers are on it.

On a blisteringly hot, sunny day this summer, Emory University researcher Arabella Lewis made her way through the underbrush in a patch of woods in Putnam County, Georgia, about an hour southeast of Atlanta. She was after something most people try desperately to avoid while in the woods: ticks....