Why clouds are the key to new troubling projections on warming

Recent climate models project that a doubling of atmospheric CO2 above pre-industrial levels could cause temperatures to soar far above previous estimates. A warming earth, researchers now say, will lead to a loss of clouds, allowing more solar energy to strike the planet.

In the Afro-Caribbean heart of Puerto Rico, locals fight erosion

The waves crashed loudly on the collapsed ruins of the Paseo del Atlántico, a walkway that once partially protected residents here from the volatile ocean. Erosion along this northernmost coast of Puerto Rico, nearly 20 miles east of San Juan, precipitated the promenade’s destruction, it finally fell into the Atlantic, exposing the Parcelas Suárez neighborhood to the water’s edge.

For now, river deltas gain land worldwide

Nile Delta Desert Islands

River deltas rank among the most economically and ecologically valuable environments on Earth. People living on deltas are increasingly vulnerable to sea-level rise and coastal hazards such as major storms, extremely high tides, and tsunamis.