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☆ Tornadoes Are Coming in Bunches. Scientists Are Trying to Figure Out Why.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-08 | by ( Delger Erdenesanaa | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Tornadoes tend to travel in packs these days, often with a dozen or more forming in the same region on the same day. On the worst days, hundreds can form at once. More than a dozen tornadoes were reported on both Monday and Tuesday this week across the Great Plains and the Midwest, according to the Storm Prediction Center run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Two weeks ago, on the most active day in April, 105 tornadoes were reported. While outbreaks like these happened have always happened, they have become more common in recent decades.

Organizations: Storm, National Oceanic, Atmospheric Administration

☆ Environmental Prize Highlights Work to Keep Fossil Fuels at Bay
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-29 | by ( Delger Erdenesanaa | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

New coal mines continue to open each year, and oil and gas companies are still exploring new parts of the world. But increasingly, people — especially Indigenous communities — are saying no to new fossil fuel developments on their land and using courts and legislatures to deliver the message. In India, protests by Adivasi communities persuaded officials to cancel the auction of land for coal mines in the biodiverse forests of Chhattisgarh State. On Monday, leaders of these and other grass-roots environmental movements, spanning six countries, won the Goldman Environmental Prize. “One of the things we’ve seen in recent years is that environmental law, protection of natural resources, has become intertwined with human rights law and the law of Indigenous people,” said Michael Sutton, an environmental lawyer and the executive director of the Goldman Environmental Foundation.

Persons: ”, Michael Sutton Organizations: Shell Global, Goldman, Goldman Environmental Foundation Locations: India, Chhattisgarh State, South Africa, Australia, Queensland

☆ Three Places Changing Quickly to Fight Climate Change
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-22 | by ( Delger Erdenesanaa | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, have passed a dangerous new threshold as people continue to burn fossil fuels. Is anyplace making progress on climate change? Steps like these, taken individually, aren’t enough to avoid the most serious consequences of climate change — worsening droughts, intensified storms and human suffering. Still, they show how some places are pulling off significant local changes very quickly. Globally, “we’re not moving as fast as we need to,” said Thomas Spencer, an analyst at the International Energy Agency.

Persons: ”, Thomas Spencer Organizations: International Energy Agency Locations: South America, China, Paris

☆ China’s Cities Are Sinking Below Sea Level, Study Finds
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-18 | by ( Delger Erdenesanaa | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

As China’s cities grow, they are also sinking. In 100 years, a quarter of China’s urban coastal land could sit below sea level because of a combination of subsidence and sea level rise, according to the study. “It’s a national problem,” said Robert Nicholls, a climate scientist and civil engineer at the University of East Anglia who reviewed the paper. Dr. Nicholls added that, to his knowledge, this study is the first to measure subsidence across many urban areas at once using state-of-the-art radar data from satellites. Subsidence in these cities is caused in part by the sheer weight of buildings and infrastructure, the study found.

Persons: “, ”, Robert Nicholls, Nicholls Organizations: University of East Anglia

☆ Ocean Heat Has Shattered Records for More Than a Year. What’s Happening?
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-10 | by ( Delger Erdenesanaa | The New York Times | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The ocean has now broken temperature records every day for more than a year. And so far, 2024 has continued 2023’s trend of beating previous records by wide margins. In fact, the whole planet has been hot for months, according to many different data sets. “There’s no ambiguity about the data,” said Gavin Schmidt, a climatologist and the director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. “So really, it’s a question of attribution.”Understanding what specific physical processes are behind these temperature records will help scientists improve their climate models and better predict temperatures in the future.

Persons: “, ”, Gavin Schmidt Organizations: NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, European Union

☆ Heat Waves Are Moving Slower and Staying Longer, Study Finds
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-29 | by ( Delger Erdenesanaa | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

As climate change warms the planet, heat waves are increasingly moving sluggishly and lasting longer, according to a study published on Friday. Each decade between 1979 and 2020, the rate at which heat waves travel, pushed along by air circulation, slowed by about 5 miles per day, the study found. Heat waves also now last about four days longer on average. The longer heat waves stick around in one place, the longer people are exposed to life-threatening temperatures. Heat waves also dry out soil and vegetation, harming crops and raising the risk of wildfires.

Persons: ”, Wei Zhang Organizations: Utah State University

☆ One Thing Most Countries Have in Common: Unsafe Air
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-19 | by ( Delger Erdenesanaa | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Only 10 countries and territories out of 134 achieved the World Health Organization’s standards for a pervasive form of air pollution last year, according to air quality data compiled by IQAir, a Swiss company. The pollution studied is called fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, because it refers to solid particles less than 2.5 micrometers in size: small enough to enter the bloodstream. PM2.5 is the deadliest form of air pollution, leading to millions of premature deaths each year. “Air pollution and climate change both have the same culprit, which is fossil fuels,” said Glory Dolphin Hammes, the CEO of IQAir’s North American division. The World Health Organization sets a guideline that people shouldn’t breathe more than 5 micrograms of fine particulate matter per cubic meter of air, on average, throughout a year.

Persons: IQAir, ” Organizations: Health, IQAir’s North, World Health Organization, Environmental Protection Agency Locations: Swiss, U.S

☆ Weirdly Warm Winter Has Climate Fingerprints All Over It, Study Says
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-06 | by ( Somini Sengupta | Delger Erdenesanaa | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Winter was weirdly warm for half the world’s population, driven in many places by the burning of fossil fuels, according to an analysis of temperature data from hundreds of locations worldwide. That aligns with the findings published late Wednesday by the European Union’s climate monitoring organization, Copernicus: The world as a whole experienced the hottest February on record, making it the ninth consecutive month of record temperatures. Even more startling, global ocean temperatures in February were at an all-time high for any time of year, according to Copernicus. Taken together, the two sets of figures offer a portrait of an unequivocally warming world that, combined with a natural El Niño weather pattern this year, has made winter unrecognizable in some places. The first analysis, conducted by Climate Central, an independent research group based in New Jersey, found that in several cities in North America, Europe and Asia, not only was winter unusually warm, but climate change played a distinctly recognizable role.

Persons: Copernicus Organizations: Climate Central Locations: New Jersey, North America, Europe, Asia

☆ It’s Been All Tumbleweeds, All the Time, in Utah and Beyond
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-05 | by ( Delger Erdenesanaa | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

On Saturday morning, residents of South Jordan, Utah, about 20 miles south of Salt Lake City, woke up to an astonishing sight. Thousands of tumbleweeds had blown into town and piled up against people’s homes overnight. In some cases, the tumbleweed jumbles reached the rooflines or upstairs balconies of people’s homes, said Rachael Van Cleave, the city’s public information officer. “It was quite a sight to see,” she said. Tumbleweeds also blew en masse into South Jordan’s neighbor city of Eagle Mountain, and across stretches of open land and highways in Nevada and western Utah.

Persons: jumbles, Rachael Van Cleave, ”, “, Tumbleweeds Locations: South Jordan , Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, South Jordan’s, Eagle, Nevada

☆ Climate Change Is Raising Texas’ Already High Wildfire Risks
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-29 | by ( Delger Erdenesanaa | Christopher Flavelle | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Climate change is increasing the risk of wildfires in Texas, a danger made real this week as the Smokehouse Creek fire, the largest in state history, burns out of control across the Panhandle region. And that growing fire risk is beginning to affect the insurance market in Texas, raising premiums for homeowners and causing some insurers to withdraw from parts of the state. For the Smokehouse Creek fire to grow so big so quickly, three weather conditions had to align: high temperatures, low relative humidity and strong winds, said John Nielsen-Gammon, the Texas state climatologist and a professor of atmospheric science at Texas A&M University. On Monday, as the Smokehouse Creek fire began to spread, it was 82 degrees Fahrenheit in Amarillo. The city’s average daytime high temperature in February is 54 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.

Persons: John Nielsen, Gammon Organizations: Texas, M University, National Weather Service Locations: Texas, Panhandle, Amarillo .

☆ Is That Polar Bear Getting Enough to Eat? Try a Collar With a Camera.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-13 | by ( Delger Erdenesanaa | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Climate change is stretching the length of time parts of the Far North go without sea ice, which polar bears rely on to hunt their preferred prey: blubbery, calorie-rich seals. When the ice melts in summer, the bears move onto land and face two options. They can rest and slow down to a state approaching hibernation, or they can forage for alternative food like berries, bird eggs and small land animals. Scientists tracking 20 polar bears in Manitoba, below the Arctic Circle at the southern end of the animals’ range, found that the option the polar bears chose didn’t make much difference. Scientists estimate that, going forward, there will be five to 10 more days without sea ice each decade.

Persons: didn’t, ”, Anthony Pagano Organizations: U.S . Geological Survey, Nature Communications Locations: Manitoba, Hudson Bay

☆ The Changing Focus of Climate Denial: From Science to Scientists
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-06 | by ( Delger Erdenesanaa | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

One July morning in 2012, climate scientist Michael Mann woke up to a terse email from a fellow scientist. “Holy crap,” read the message, from Phil Plait, an astronomer and science communicator. “This is truly the most awful thing I’ve ever seen said about a climate scientist. The writers claimed that Dr. Mann had created fraudulent graphs, and accused the university of mishandling investigations into both the coach’s crimes and the scientist’s research. Dr. Mann did indeed call a lawyer.

Persons: Michael Mann, ”, Phil Plait, I’d, Dr, Mann, Jerry Sandusky Organizations: Pennsylvania State University, Penn State, Columbia, Court Locations: District

☆ Where Groundwater Levels Are Falling, and Rising, Worldwide
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-24 | by ( Delger Erdenesanaa | Mira Rojanasakul | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

An investigation into nearly 1,700 aquifers across more than 40 countries found that groundwater levels in almost half have fallen since 2000. Only about 7 percent of the aquifers surveyed had groundwater levels that rose over that same time period. The new study is one of the first to compile data from monitoring wells around the world to try and construct a global picture of groundwater levels in fine detail. The declines were most apparent in regions with dry climates and a lot of land cultivated for agriculture, including California’s Central Valley and the High Plains region in the United States. The researchers also found large areas of sharply falling groundwater in Iran.

Locations: Valley, United States, Iran

☆ Quebec Man Pleads Guilty to What He Accused the Government Of: Starting Wildfires
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-19 | by ( Delger Erdenesanaa | More About Delger Erdenesanaa | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A Quebec resident who last summer had shared conspiracy theories online suggesting that the Canadian government was deliberately starting wildfires to convince people climate change is happening has now pleaded guilty to setting more than a dozen fires. Brian Paré, 38, pleaded guilty to lighting 14 fires in the Chibougamau area of Quebec between May and September 2023. Last year was Canada’s worst wildfire season on record, with a total of 45 million acres burned. One of those, the Lake Cavan fire, burned more than 2,000 acres of forest and was the largest of the fires Mr. Paré admitted lighting. The court hearing took place Monday; sentencing is expected in April.

Persons: Brian Paré, Paré, Marie, Philippe Charron Organizations: The Canadian Press Locations: Quebec, Chibougamau, North America, Chapais, Cavan

☆ How Much Ice Is Greenland Losing? Researchers Found an Answer.
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-17 | by ( Delger Erdenesanaa | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Greenland’s expansive ice sheet is known to be shrinking, especially since the 1990s, because of warming from climate change. It’s a fate shared by the Antarctic Ice Sheet as well as glaciers around the world. Now, a new study reveals that about 20 percent more of the Greenland ice sheet has disappeared than previous estimates show. The missing ice has been breaking and melting from the ends of glaciers around Greenland’s perimeter. “Almost every glacier in Greenland is retreating.

Persons: ”, Chad Greene Organizations: Antarctic, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Locations: Greenland’s, Greenland

This year is “virtually certain” to be the hottest year in recorded history, the World Meteorological Organization announced on Thursday at COP28, the United Nations climate summit in Dubai where delegates from nearly 200 countries, including many heads of state and government, have gathered. The organization said 2023 has been about 1.4 degrees Celsius, or about 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit, above the global average preindustrial temperature from 1850 to 1990. The past nine years have collectively been the warmest in 174 years of recorded scientific observations, with the previous single-year records set in 2020 and 2016. This comes in addition to record greenhouse gas concentrations, sea levels and concentrations of methane. “It’s a deafening cacophony of broken records,” Petteri Taalas, the secretary general of the World Meteorological Organization, said in Dubai.

Persons: ” Petteri Taalas Organizations: World Meteorological Organization Locations: COP28, United Nations, Dubai

☆ Health Risks Linked to Climate Change Are Getting Worse, Experts Warn
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-14 | by ( Delger Erdenesanaa | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Climate change continues to have a worsening effect on health and mortality around the world, according to an exhaustive report published on Tuesday by an international team of 114 researchers. People in this age group, along with babies, are especially vulnerable to health risks like heat stroke. The report, published in the medical journal The Lancet, also tracked estimated lost income and food insecurity. Globally, exposure to extreme heat, and resulting losses in productivity or inability to work, may have led to income losses as high as $863 billion in 2022. And, in 2021, an estimated 127 million more people experienced moderate or severe food insecurity linked to heat waves and droughts, compared with 1981-2010.

Persons: “ We’ve, ”, Marina Romanello Organizations: University College London

☆ Two Studies on Greenland Reveal Ominous Signs for Sea Level Rise
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-09 | by ( Delger Erdenesanaa | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Greenland’s mountain glaciers and floating ice shelves are melting faster than they were just a few decades ago and becoming destabilized, according to two separate studies published this week. The island's peripheral glaciers, located mostly in coastal mountains and not directly connected to the larger Greenland ice sheet, retreated twice as fast between 2000 and 2021 as they did before the turn of the century, according to a study published on Thursday. “It got a lot harder to be a glacier in Greenland in the 21st century than it had been even in the 1990s,” said Yarrow Axford, a professor of geological sciences at Northwestern University and a co-author of the paper, published in the journal Nature Climate Change. Dr. Axford’s team found that glaciers in southern Greenland have become shorter by 18 percent on average since 2000, and glaciers elsewhere on the island have become shorter by 5 to 10 percent.

Persons: ”, Yarrow, Axford’s Organizations: Northwestern University Locations: Greenland

☆ 35 Years After Addressing Congress, James Hansen Has More Climate Warnings
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-02 | by ( Delger Erdenesanaa | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Global warming may be happening more quickly than previously thought, according to a new study by a group of researchers including former NASA scientist James Hansen, whose testimony before Congress 35 years ago helped raise broad awareness of climate change. The study warns that the planet could exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, of warming this decade, compared with the average temperature in preindustrial days, and that the world will warm by 2 degrees Celsius by 2050. When countries signed the landmark Paris Agreement in 2015 to collectively fight climate change, they agreed to try and limit global warming to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius and aim for 1.5 degrees. “The 1.5 degree limit is deader than a doornail,” said Dr. Hansen, now the director of the Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions Program at Columbia University, during a news conference on Thursday. The world has warmed by about 1.2 degrees Celsius so far and is already experiencing worsening heat waves, wildfires, storms, biodiversity loss and other consequences of climate change.

Persons: James Hansen, ”, Hansen Organizations: NASA, Columbia University Locations: Paris

☆ A Tangle of Rules to Protect America’s Water Is Falling Short
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-02 | by ( Dionne Searcey | Delger Erdenesanaa | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +18 min

UNCHARTED WATERS A Tangle of Rules to Protect America’s Water Is Falling Short The Times asked all 50 states how they manage groundwater. California’s State Water Resources Control Board provides a list of some 85 firms that help clients who have questions about water rights there. Irrigated acres 0 10 100 200 thousand 1987 2017 MISSOURI MISSOURI ARKANSAS ARKANSAS MISSISSIPPI MISSISSIPPI LOUISIANA LOUISIANA Irrigated acres 0 10 100 200 thousand 1987 2017 MISSOURI MISSOURI ARKANSAS ARKANSAS MISSISSIPPI MISSISSIPPI LOUISIANA LOUISIANA Irrigated acres 0 10 100 200 thousand 1987 2017 MISSOURI MISSOURI ARKANSAS ARKANSAS MISSISSIPPI MISSISSIPPI LOUISIANA LOUISIANA Irrigated acres 0 10 100 200 thousand 1987 2017 MO. “When Tennessee pumps groundwater, it is pumping water located within its own territory,” the 2021 ruling said. One practical problem The Times’s research identified is that state water authorities are often small operations relative to their sprawling responsibilities and the growing danger of aquifer damage.

Persons: don’t, Matthew Staver, ”, Christopher Neel, Chris Scheuring, Reba Epler, Mira Rojanasakul, “ We’re, Andrew Sheeley, Mike Parson, Jeff Roberson, Dave Owen, Ron Wyden, who’s, “ We’ve, Ryan Gordon, Mark Rogers, Gabriel Eckstein, Jeremy Manley, Cody Smith, Jake Parrish, Sharon Megdal, Elizabeth Cisar, “, ’, Dr, Gordon, Ariz, Rebecca Noble Organizations: Times, MISSOURI TEXAS, VERMONT, New York Times, The New York Times, Oklahoma Water Resources Board, California Farm Bureau, Nationwide, Arup, Water Resources Control, Congress, MISSOURI MISSOURI ARKANSAS, Missouri Department of Natural, Associated Press, UC Law San, Energy, Power, WASHINGTON, Maine Geological Survey, United States Geological Survey, United States Supreme, Associated, Texas, M University, Staff, State Engineer’s Office, Yakima Herald -, Water Resources Research Center, University of Arizona, Joyce Foundation, The New York Locations: America’s, . TEXAS MISSOURI VERMONT, MISSOURI, MISSOURI TEXAS VERMONT, VERMONT, TEXAS MISSOURI, MISSOURI TEXAS, Oklahoma, Kansas, . Oklahoma, California, American, Wyoming, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Great, Mississippi, Missouri , Arkansas, Louisiana, MISSOURI MISSOURI ARKANSAS ARKANSAS MISSISSIPPI MISSISSIPPI LOUISIANA LOUISIANA, . LA, LA, Missouri, Missouri Department of Natural Resources . Missouri, Ozark, States, Kentucky, Vermont, Oregon, In Texas, United States, WASHINGTON ARKANSAS, ARKANSAS WASHINGTON, Maine, Tennessee, Memphis, Muleshoe , Texas, When Tennessee, Minnesota, Blaine, ’, Laramie County, Sunnyside, Wash, Yakima, Yakima Herald - Republic, Colorado, Maryland, In Illinois, Illinois, ”, Arizona, Phoenix, In Kansas, Washington, Hope

☆ Earth’s Hottest August on Record Followed a Record-Breaking June and July
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-21 | by ( Delger Erdenesanaa | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Last month was the planet’s warmest August in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s 174-year record, agency officials said on Thursday. The global surface temperature for the month was 2.25 degrees Fahrenheit, or 1.25 degrees Celsius, above the 20th century average. July and June were also the warmest on record globally, and global surface sea temperatures hit a record high for the fifth month in a row. In the United States, this August was the ninth-warmest on record. But Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi were especially hot, with all three states experiencing their warmest August ever.

Organizations: Oceanic Locations: United States, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi

As the atmosphere warms, many forests and other natural ecosystems are becoming drier and more prone to catching on fire. “You don’t have to cook the books.”Together, the two studies show how wildfires are a growing health threat. Wildfire smoke can contain a variety of pollutants, including fine particulate matter, or PM 2.5, a type of air pollution made up of very small particles that can invade the lungs and bloodstream. Thanks to the Clean Air Act, air pollution in the United States has generally improved since the 1970s. But levels of PM 2.5, which are routinely tracked by the Environmental Protection Agency and had been declining, took a marked turn back up around 2016.

Persons: Childs, “ It’s, something’s, ”, Marshall Burke Organizations: Stanford University, Act, Environmental Protection Agency Locations: Canada, United States

Tens of thousands of people, young and old, filled the streets of Midtown Manhattan under blazing sunshine on Sunday to demand that world leaders quickly pivot away from fossil fuels dangerously heating the Earth. Their ire was sharply directed at President Biden, who is expected to arrive in New York Sunday night for several fund-raisers this week and to speak before the United Nations General Assembly session that begins Tuesday. “Biden, you should be scared of us,” Emma Buretta, 17, a New York City high school student and an organizer with the Fridays for Future movement, shouted at a rally ahead of the march. “If you want our vote, if you don’t want the blood of our generations to be on your hands, end fossil fuels.”The Biden administration has shepherded through the United States’ most ambitious climate law and is working to transition the country to wind, solar and other renewable energy. But it has also continued to approve permits for new oil and gas drilling.

Persons: Biden, “ Biden, ” Emma Buretta, ” Organizations: United Nations General Assembly, New York City, United Locations: Midtown Manhattan, New York, New, United States

☆ Why Floods Can Turn So Deadly, So Fast
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( Delger Erdenesanaa | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

A powerful storm hit Libya’s northeast coast on Sunday. Two dams burst upstream from the port city of Derna, causing a torrential flood that has killed more than 5,000 people, according to local officials. The flooding in Derna is a harrowing example of how built infrastructure can collide with the climate and geography to turn a storm into a disaster. “Floods are the most damaging natural hazard when it comes to destruction of property and lives lost,” said Katharine Mach, a professor of environmental science and policy at the University of Miami. But the danger and damage can vary widely, and a whole “recipe” of factors determines a given location’s flood effects, she said.

Persons: ”, Katharine Mach Organizations: University of Miami Locations: Derna

Ian killed 75 people in Lee County, nearly half of the statewide death toll of 149, officials said. At that point, the National Hurricane Center flagged the possibility of a storm surge covering much of Cape Coral and Fort Myers. Parts of Fort Myers Beach had a 40 percent chance of a six-foot-high storm surge, according to the surge forecasts. In Lee County officials said they were waiting to make an assessment the next morning. Officials expanded their evacuation order later in the morning, and by the middle of the afternoon, Lee County officials were more urgent in their recommendation.

Persons: Ian, Lee County, Ron DeSantis, Lee, Fort Myers, ” Organizations: National Hurricane Service, National Hurricane Center, Fort Myers, Facebook Locations: Florida, Tampa, Fort Myers, Lee County, Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel, State, Coral, Fort, Cape Coral, Neighboring Pinellas, Hillsborough, Manatee, Charlotte, Sarasota County, Lee

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