A different modeling approach fills large gaps in the U.S. government’s flood risk estimates, revealing previously overlooked at-risk areas often surrounding small flood-prone streams.
Climate Change
How Did Life Learn to Breathe?
Scientists unravel the conditions under which life evolved to breathe oxygen—and the findings have some stellar implications.
Republican Congressman Urges Colleagues to Act on Climate Change
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick says that Republican members of Congress need to “acknowledge reality” and do more to raise awareness about climate change.
Dramatic Stratospheric Warmings Carved a Hole in the Ionosphere
A new study of sudden temperature spikes in Earth’s stratosphere could improve space weather forecasting.
Landslides Send Carbon-Rich Soils into Long-Term Storage
Earthquake-triggered landslides move soils down steep slopes and deposit the sediments near rivers, sequestering the carbon contained within them for millions of years.
Lightning: A New Essential Climate Variable
Lightning is a symptom and a cause of climate change. A recently established task team is working to make lightning data available and useful for climate science and service applications.
Budgeting Ozone-Depleting Emissions from Coastal Tidal Marshes
Brackish wetlands and their salt-tolerant vegetation are significant methyl halide emitters. The natural emissions add chlorine and bromine to the stratosphere, which break down ozone.
Better Data for Modeling the Sun’s Influence on Climate
Several international initiatives are working to stitch together data describing solar forcing of Earth’s climate. Their objective is to improve understanding of climate response to solar variability.
Human Activities Create Corridors of Change in Aquatic Zones
Canals, dammed reservoirs, irrigation ditches, and pollution are changing species diversity, microbial communities, and nutrient levels in aquatic zones across the planet.
New Modeling Framework Improves Radiative Feedback Estimates
A new approach offers insights into the relationship between surface temperature and top-of-atmosphere energy imbalances and improves the understanding of important climate feedbacks.
