Archive for the 'Climate science' Category
Water: A Precious, and Wasted, Resource
By Andrea Thompson, LiveScience Staff Writer
posted: 02 November 2007 12:08 pm ET
NEW YORK — On an illuminated wall in the American Museum of Natural History, three clear plastic tubes about 5-feet long and a couple inches in diameter automatically fill with water. In the first tube, a small amount shoots up, barely visible at the tube’s bottom, representing the meager 3 gallons of water that the average Ethiopian subsists on daily. The middle tube fills about one quarter full, showing the more bountiful 30 gallons of water the average Briton uses in a day.
No commentsRecord Low Arctic Sea Ice Confirmed
By Andrea Thompson, LiveScience Staff Writer
posted: 01 October 2007 01:09 pm ET
Arctic sea ice plummeted to the lowest levels seen in the last 30 years, shattering all previous record lows, scientists announced today after completing a full review of the entire melt season.
The average sea ice extent for this September (typically the month when sea ice reaches its lowest extent) was only 1.65 million square miles (4.28 million square kilometers)—23 percent lower than the previous record low set in September 2005, the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) said.
A preliminary assessment last month indicated that Sept. 16 would be the date of minimum ice extent this year and that it was lower than the average of the last thirty years.
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NASA: Antarctic Snowmelt Increasing
By Andrea Thompson, LiveScience Staff Writer
posted: 20 September 2007 10:28 am ET
Antarctic snow has been melting farther inland and at higher altitudes over the past 20 years, NASA scientists announced today.
With a surface size about 1.5 times the size of the United States, Antarctica contains 90 percent of the Earth’s fresh water, making it the largest potential source of sea level rise from global warming. The water at the bottom of the world is, of course, frozen.
Unlike the well-documented and rapid Arctic meltdown, snow melt in Antarctica has been very limited because even summer temperatures rarely rise above freezing.
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Deadliest Hurricane Threat: Inland Heavy Rain
By Andrea Thompson, LiveScience Staff Writer
posted: 21 August 2007 09:23 am ET
With Hurricane Dean crashing ashore in Mexico, some of the worst damage could actually occur far inland.
Though coastal areas bear the brunt of a hurricane’s fury, its winds and rain continue to wreak havoc as the storm moves inland. Because of this inland threat, a researcher has now developed a way to improve rainfall forecasts for those in the path of the hurricane once it’s ashore.
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Indian floods death toll up, million-plus stranded
Sun Jul 8, 3:49 PM ET KOLKATA, India (AFP) - The death toll from heavy rains in India has climbed to about 660 as a minster said more than a million people were stranded in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal.
“Heavy rains over the past two days have led to the swelling of the rivers in the districts. In many places, the rivers breached embankments and flooded the villagers,” said Mortaza Hossain, relief minister in West Bengal.
No commentsDrought renews pressure to fix Glades
By BRIAN SKOLOFF, Associated Press Writer Sun Jul 8, 7:59 AM ET
ON THE KISSIMMEE RIVER, Fla. - One hard rainfall won’t even come close to solving the unprecedented drought withering much of Florida.
Lake Okeechobee, the heart of the Everglades and a backup drinking water source for millions of South Florida residents, has been hitting a record low almost weekly. Its main artery, the Kissimmee River starting near Orlando, hasn’t flowed south in more than 240 days, depriving the lake of 50 percent of its water.
No commentsMysterious Clouds Creeping Out of the Arctic
By Dave Mosher, LiveScience Staff Writer
posted: 28 June 2007 05:38 pm ET
A new NASA satellite has recorded the first detailed images from space of a mysterious type of cloud called “night-shining” or “noctilucent.”
The clouds are on the move, brightening and creeping out of polar regions, and researchers don’t know why.
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La Nina arrival delayed until late summer: govt
Thu Jun 21, 3:46 PM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The weather anomaly La Nina could develop later this summer, but the National Weather Service said on Thursday it is unlikely to affect weather in the United States during the next few months.
Antarctic Icebergs Are ‘Hotspots’ for Marine Life
By Andrea Thompson, LiveScience Staff Writer
posted: 21 June 2007 02:00 pm ET
The ever-increasing number of free-floating icebergs breaking off Antarctica due to Earth’s warming temperatures are serving as “hotspots” for life, with seabirds swooping above and complex webs of marine life teeming below, a new study shows.
Global warming is showing its most dramatic effect at Earth’s poles so far, and the rising temperatures are causing Antarctic ice shelves to shrink and split apart into thousands of icebergs that drift out to sea.
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Hurricane satellite could fail anytime
By JESSICA GRESKO, Associated Press Writer
MIAMI - An aging weather satellite crucial to accurate predictions on the intensity and path of hurricanes could fail at any moment and plans to launch a replacement have been pushed back seven years to 2016.
In a letter obtained by The Associated Press, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s chief said the failure of the QuikScat satellite could bring more uncertainty to forecasts and widen the areas that are placed under hurricane watches and warnings.
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