When rivers run low, they threaten ecosystems, economies, and the communities who depend on them. Scientists need to determine how climate change alters this process, but to do so, they'll have to abandon a long-held assumption.
forecasting
Posted inResearch Spotlights
What Climate Information Is Most Useful for Predicting Floods?
Basing forecasts on data that preserve variations over space yield more reliable predictions than using standard numerical measures of climatic cycles' intensity.
Posted inFeatures
Improving Predictions of Arctic Sea Ice Extent
Scientists in the Sea Ice Prediction Network share and discuss their user-oriented forecasts of seasonal sea ice in a changing Arctic.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Rainfall Fluctuations Hinder Projections of Future Extremes
Long-period oscillations in rainfall make even long records less useful for predicting future extremes.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Conquering Uncertainties in Tropical Climate Forecasts
The key to better predictions of atmospheric temperature trends in the tropics may lie in more accurate measurements of sea surface temperatures.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Do All These Weather Satellites Really Improve Forecasts?
A team of researchers put an array of space- and ground-based weather instruments to the test and found that the common weather balloon is irreplaceable for forecasting rainfall.
Posted inScience Updates
Changing of the Guard: Satellite Will Warn Earth of Solar Storms
This summer, Earth gets a new guardian—the Deep Space Climate Observatory—to help warn astronauts and operators of critical planetary infrastructure about the Sun's raging magnetic storms.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
A Database of African Precipitation from 1983 Onward
Satellite infrared observations are used to reconstruct African precipitation records for the past 30 years in an attempt to infer rainfall variability.
Posted inNews
Six of the L’Aquila Seven Acquitted in Appeal
Six of the accused L’Aquila seven acquitted.
Posted inScience Updates
Land Surface Model Development Needs for Weather Prediction
Eighth Weather Research and Forecasting Working Group 14: Land Surface Modeling Workshop;
Boulder, Colorado, 26–27 June 2014