RSS Feed
Author Archive
NASA scientists warn of accelerating sea level rise as ice sheets melt
Posted by Mashable: None Given on August 28th, 2015
Mashable: As the world's ice sheets melt in response to warming air and ocean temperatures, global sea level is increasing. This is already putting cities from New York to Shanghai at risk of almost routine flooding from even relatively minor storms.
The question facing scientists and policy makers is how much sea level rise they need to plan for in the coming decades, and recent findings are concerning.
On Wednesday, NASA scientists said they expect several feet of global sea level rise by the end of...
Posted in 
Massive wildfires have the world’s deepest lake surrounded
Posted by Mashable: None Given on August 25th, 2015
Mashable: Dozens of large wildfires are burning out of control around Lake Baikal in Siberia, which is the world's largest freshwater lake by volume and the deepest lake, at more than 5,300 feet deep. The Lake Baikal area is a popular recreational area during the summer, with campgrounds and cottages surrounding the shoreline.
Because of the composition of the soil in this part of the world, these fires are spewing unusually high amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, thereby contributing to global warming....
Washington biggest fire in history could burn until it snows this fall
Posted by Mashable: None Given on August 25th, 2015
Mashable: The Okanogan Complex wildfire in Washington State has become the largest wildfire in state history, burning more than 400 square miles and counting, beating another fire that earned the dubious title just last year. As of Monday morning, the fire was only 10% contained, and officials warn that it could continue burning until snow arrives in the fall.
See also: You can now Google your home to see if you should go solar
The fire, which has now surpassed last year's Carlton Complex blazes, is...
World’s fastest-melting glacier loses massive chunk in 2 days
Posted by Mashable: None Given on August 23rd, 2015
Mashable: One of the world's most rapidly flowing glaciers may have just set another record, and it's not one not that bodes well for low-lying coastal cities and nations around the world, which are vulnerable to sea level rise. During the past month, a NASA satellite captured images showing a sudden loss of ice, also known as a calving event (or in this case, possibly multiple events) from Greenland's Jakobshavn Isbrae Glacier between July 31 and August 16, 2015. Images posted on the Arctic sea ice blog,...
July 2015 was very likely Earth’s hottest month on record
Posted by Mashable: None Given on August 19th, 2015
Mashable: The warmest year on record so far may have claimed another milestone, and this time it's a big one.
According to preliminary data from NASA along with information from the Japan Meteorological Administration, July 2015 was the warmest month on record since instrument temperature records began in the late 1800s.
Research using other data, such as tree rings, ice cores and coral formations in the ocean, have shown that the Earth is now the warmest it has been since at least 4,000 years ago. ...
Is Global Warming Lurking Behind This Summer’s Heat Waves?
Posted by Mashable: None Given on August 13th, 2015
Mashable: It's been a cruel, cruel summer for millions of people across the Northern Hemisphere. Extreme heat has been blamed for thousands of deaths from India to Egypt, on northward into Europe and west to the Pacific Northwest cities of Seattle and Portland. Even Japan and Hong Kong have set all-time high temperature records and passed historical heat wave markers.
The most recent heat has occurred in parts of Europe, the Middle East and East Asia. On Aug. 7, for example, Berlin hit 102 degrees Fahrenheit,...
How the West was burned: Thousands of wildfires ablaze in California alone
Posted by Mashable: None Given on August 5th, 2015
Mashable: Drought and lightning are making for a combustible combination in California. The state is suffering through its fourth straight summer of drought, and this may be known as the summer of smoke.
A staggering 10,000 national, state and local firefighters are battling fires that are popping up by the hundreds each week, the majority of which are sparked by lightning strikes from daily thunderstorms erupting over mountainous terrain, which drop little rain and cause a lot of trouble. To put the number...
Godfather of global warming’s frightening prediction is getting the cold shoulder
Posted by Mashable: None Given on July 23rd, 2015
Mashable: We're entering the final sprint toward one of the most consequential rounds of climate change negotiations in history, which will take place in Paris this December. Those talks have the goal of devising an international agreement that will limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, above preindustrial levels by 2100. Study after study has already found that this goal is going to be extremely difficult for the world to reach, in light of recent emissions trajectories...
Alaska wildfires char nearly 2 million acres, send smoke to South Carolina
Posted by Mashable: None Given on July 2nd, 2015
Mashable: Alaska is on track to have one of its worst wildfire seasons on record, propelled by a combination of warming average temperatures, a historically mild, relatively snowless winter and extremely mild spring. So far this year, 1.88 million acres have gone up in smoke, from 617 individual fires. June 2015 beat June of 2004 in terms of both number of fires and amount of acres burned, which means this year is now outpacing the state's worst wildfire season ever recorded. With hundreds of fires still...
Heat dome parked over West shatters temperature records, sparks fires
Posted by Mashable: None Given on July 1st, 2015
Mashable: The West is baking under a heat dome that has sent temperatures soaring to historically high levels, further drying out soils and priming the region for fast-spreading wildfires. The heat wave is noteworthy for its severity, extent and duration.
During the past seven days alone, 465 warm temperature records have been set or tied across the country, mainly in the West, with 49 monthly warm temperature records set or tied, according to the National Center for Environmental Information in Asheville,...