Page 2 - Global Warming

Antarctica turning green 'dramatically', trend accelerated over yrs: Study

Antarctica is turning green "dramatically", with the trend accelerated by more than 30 per cent in recent years, compared to the past three decades, a new study has found. Researchers found that vegetation cover across the Antarctic Peninsula increased more than tenfold -- from less than a square kilometre to almost 12 square kilometres -- between 1986 and 2021. The researchers, including those at the University of Exeter, UK, used satellite data to estimate the "greening" rate of the Antarctic Peninsula in response to climate change. "This recent acceleration in the rate of change in vegetation cover (2016-2021) coincides with a marked decrease in sea-ice extent in Antarctica over the same period," the authors wrote in the study published in the journal Nature Geoscience. The study provides evidence that a widespread greening trend, across the Antarctic Peninsula, is under way and accelerating, they said. Antarctica has been shown to be warming faster than the global average, wit

Antarctica's winter sea ice in 2024 was lowest ever, except for 2023

In the Antarctic, sea ice typically covers the largest expanse of ocean at some point in September

Why are Italy and Switzerland redrawing their border near Matterhorn Peak?

The boundary change, agreed upon by both Italy and Switzerland, affects the area under Matterhorn, one of the highest and most iconic peaks in the Alps

UK, home to world's first coal power plant, to close its last unit today

The UK will close its last coal power plant on Monday, marking a significant milestone in energy use amid global calls for adopting green energy to thwart the irreversible threat of climate change

Global South cities have only 70% of cooling capacity as North ones: Study

Cities in the Global South are equipped with only about 70 per cent of the "cooling capacity" provided by urban greenery in cities in the Global North and are, therefore, are more vulnerable to extreme heat, a new research has found. As the planet warms, researchers said that rising temperatures, along with 'urban heat island' effects, make cities hotter than rural areas. As a result, heat-related illness and deaths in these areas are becoming more common. An international team, including researchers from the University of Exeter, UK, analysed satellite data on 500 of the world's largest cities to assess 'cooling capacity' -- how much do the urban green spaces cool down a city's surface temperatures? "Our analysis suggests green spaces can cool the surface temperature in the average city by about 3 degrees Celsius during warm seasons -- a vital difference during extreme heat," author Timothy M. Lenton, from the University of Exeter, said. "However, a concerning disparity is evident

Great Barrier Reef declines due to climate change; little time to save it

Humanity is killing the Great Barrier Reef, and other reefs around the world, by failing to curb the greenhouse gas emissions

Earth ends 13-month streak of record heat: Here's what to expect next

Global warming has consistently toppled records for warm global average temperatures in recent decades

Wayanad landslides: How climate change is linked to Kerala disaster

Warming of the Arabian Sea is allowing the formation of deep cloud systems, leading to extremely heavy rainfall in Kerala in a shorter period and increasing the possibility of landslides, a senior climate scientist said on Tuesday. Extremely heavy rain triggered a series of landslides in the hilly areas of Kerala's Wayanad district early on Tuesday, leaving at least 123 people dead and 128 injured. Many were feared trapped under the debris. S Abhilash, director of the Advanced Centre for Atmospheric Radar Research at Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT), said Kasargod, Kannur, Wayanad, Calicut and Malappuram districts have been receiving copious rainfall due to the active monsoon offshore trough affecting the entire Konkan region for the last two weeks. The soil was saturated after two weeks of rainfall. A deep mesoscale cloud system formed off the coast in the Arabian Sea on Monday and led to extremely heavy rain in Wayanad, Calicut, Malappuram and Kannur, resulting

UN urges nations to better prepare as extreme heat breaks records

After three of Earth's hottest days ever measured, the United Nations called for a flurry of efforts to try to reduce the human toll from soaring and searing temperatures, calling it an extreme heat epidemic. If there is one thing that unites our divided world, it's that we're all increasingly feeling the heat, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Thursday at a news conference where he highlighted that Monday was the hottest day on record, surpassing the mark set just a day earlier. Earth is becoming hotter and more dangerous for everyone, everywhere. Nearly half a million people a year die worldwide from heat related deaths, far more than other weather extremes such as hurricanes, and this is likely an underestimate, a new report by 10 U.N. agencies said. Billions of people are facing an extreme heat epidemic -- wilting under increasingly deadly heat waves, with temperatures topping 50 degrees Celsius around the world," Guterres said. "That's 122 degrees Fahrenhei

July 21 recorded as world's hottest day ever as climate change worsens

Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus service, said that it was possible the beginning of this week could eclipse Sunday's record as heatwaves continue to sizzle across the world

Kamala Harris on biz: Friendly to Big Tech, aggressive in climate fight

In 2015, she compelled startup Houzz to hire a chief privacy officer after allegations that the home design app had recorded sales calls without proper notification and consent

Melting polar ice is slowing Earth's rotation, lengthening days, says study

A scientific paper has indicated that melting polar ice caps are redistributing mass around the equator, slowing Earth's rotation and lengthening days at an unprecedented rate

June warmest on record, 12th month over 1.5 degrees C limit: EU agency

With millions of people across five continents experiencing scorching heat last month, the European Union's climate agency, Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), confirmed on Monday that June was the warmest on record. It also marked the 12th consecutive month of global temperatures reaching or breaking the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold. According to C3S ERA5 data, every month since June last year has been the warmest such month on record. In January, the world completed an entire year with the mean surface air temperature exceeding the 1.5-degree Celsius threshold. June was the 12th consecutive month with monthly average temperatures above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial average. At the 2015 UN climate talks in Paris, world leaders committed to limiting the global average temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial period to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. However, a permanent breach of the 1.5-degree Celsius limit specified in the Paris Agreement .

June 2024 sets record as hottest in history, shows EU climate monitor

June's temperature exceeded the estimated average for the pre-industrial period (1850-1900) by 1.50 degrees Celsius, according to the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service

World marks full year of average temperatures exceeding 1.5C target

The average for the year through June 2024 was 1.64C higher than the era from 1850 to 1900

Walmart heir Christy Walton joins Novogratz urging Biden to exit prez race

The business leaders, for their part, appealed to Biden's patriotic side around the nation's Independence Day, invoking the first US president

4% newborn deaths linked to climate change in lower income countries: Study

Over four per cent of newborn deaths are related to high and low temperatures, driven by climate change, according to a research looking at 29 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), mainly in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Of the four per cent, on average, 1.5 per cent of annual newborn deaths across these countries were linked to extreme heat, while nearly three per cent were linked to extreme cold, said researchers who studied the data between 2001-2019. Further, 32 per cent of all heat-related deaths in newborn babies over the period 2001-2019, amounting to more than 1.75 lakh deaths, were attributed to climate change, estimated an international team of researchers, including those from Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Germany. Climate change was also found to be responsible to lowering the risk of newborn death related to cold temperatures by over 30 per cent, amounting to 4.57 lakh fewer newborn deaths. The findings are published in the journal Nature ...

China warns of hotter, longer heatwaves as avg temperatures hit new highs

Last year, average national temperatures hit a new high, leading to record levels of glacial retreat and melting permafrost in the northwest

Alaska's icefield melting speeds up, losing snow 5 times faster than 1980s

The melting of Alaska's Juneau icefield, home to more than 1,000 glaciers, is accelerating. The snow covered area is now shrinking 4.6 times faster than it was in the 1980s, according to a new study. Researchers meticulously tracked snow levels in the nearly 1,500-square mile icy expanse going back to 1948 with added data back to the 18th century. It slowly shriveled from its peak size at the end of the Little Ice Age around 1850, but then that melt rate sped up about 10 years ago, according to a study in Tuesday's Nature Communications. What's happening is that as the climate is changing, we're getting shorter winters and longer summers, study lead author Bethan Davies, a glaciologist at Newcastle University in England. We're having more melt, longer melt season. It's melting so fast that the flow of ice into water from now averages about 50,000 gallons every second, according to study co-author Mauri Pelto, a professor of environmental science at Nichols College in Massachusetts.

Climate leaders need better data amid sweltering heat across the world

It's clear that global warming is already having a malign effect on human health and livelihoods. We just need more clarity on how much