extreme events Archives

The Sun sets in an orange sky over the city of Madrid.

Europe Faces Increased Heat Mortality in Coming Decades

by Javier Barbuzano 25 February 202525 February 2025

Extreme temperature caused by unchecked climate change could claim 2.3 million lives in Europe by 2100, a new study warns.

A person sits on a platform on a marsh. The platform is connected to a series of wires connected to a white tower.

Research Spotlights

Dry Heat, Wet Heat, and Wetland Methane Emissions

by Aaron Sidder 20 November 202420 November 2024

Compound weather events—such as extreme cold or heat combined with severe dryness or precipitation—have a greater effect on wetland methane emissions than discrete weather extremes do.

A huge prominence shoots out into space from the surface of the Sun. The Sun’s surface and the erupted material appear to be various fiery shades of orange, red, and yellow, and the Sun’s curved horizon appears in the distance against the blackness of space, highlighting just how big the eruption is.

Research Spotlights

Blasts from the Past: New Insights from Old Space Storms

by Sarah Stanley 24 October 202424 October 2024

Reassessment and comparison of past space weather events highlight the potential for Earth to experience destructive geomagnetic disturbances.

A black-and-white artist’s depiction of Earth’s Van Allen radiation belts—two half-oval shapes extending out to the left and right of Earth (to show a cross section of the belts).

Research Spotlights

Audible Storm Waves Could Turbocharge Earth’s Radiation Belts

by Sarah Stanley 16 October 202416 October 2024

Electromagnetic chorus waves could generate more extreme radiation levels than previously thought, posing severe hazards for Earth-orbiting spacecraft.

Satellite image of tan whisps of clouds over green land. There is brown land to the right and blue ocean to the left.

News

Extreme Wildfires Make Their Own Weather

by Elise Cutts 8 March 202313 March 2023

Extreme fires in the western United States and Southeast Asia influenced the local weather in ways that make fires and smoke pollution worse.

Editors' Highlights

Tracking from Space how Extreme Drought Impacts Carbon Emissions

by Susan Trumbore 12 December 202112 December 2021

Carbon dioxide emissions from wildfires combined with reduced carbon uptake by intact ecosystems during the 2019-202
0 fire season to approximately double Australia’s annual carbon emissions.

Map of the Babai river basin in Nepal showing location of water level and streamflow measuring stations.

Editors' Highlights

Satellite Estimates for Hydroclimatic Extremes

by Jonathan H. Jiang 20 September 202128 September 2021

A new study corrects poor-performing satellite-based rainfall estimates with gauge data and also fills gauge data gaps using well-performing satellite-based rainfall estimates.

News

Siberian Heat Wave Nearly Impossible Without Human Influence

by Michael Allen 17 June 202128 April 2022

A new study finds that the exceptional temperatures seen in Siberia in the first half of 2020 would have been extremely unlikely without anthropogenic climate change.