Op-Ed: California’s beaches closures offer a glimpse of the likely future. That should frighten us
For the first time in history, most people in Southern California, under stay-at-home orders, are completely banned from surfing, sunbathing, fishing or building sandcastles at the ocean’s edge. The current beach closures are giving us a glimpse of Southern California’s likely future: one with fewer and smaller beaches nearly as inaccessible as they are right now.
Ships’ emissions create measurable regional change in clouds
Years of cloud data over a shipping route shows that pollution from ships has significantly increased the reflectivity of the clouds. The results suggest that industrial pollution’s effect on clouds has masked about a third of the warming due to fossil fuel burning since the late 1800s.
Ocean species are shifting toward the Poles
Concentrations of marine animal populations have been shifting away from the equator and toward the poles during the course of the past century, according to one of the most comprehensive analyses of marine species distributions to date.
Plants and animals aren’t so different when it comes to climate
Despite fundamental differences in their biology, plants and animals are surprisingly similar in how they have evolved in response to climate around the world, according to a new study.
Hidden source of carbon found at the Arctic coast
A previously unknown and significant source of carbon just discovered in the Arctic has scientists both marveling at a once overlooked contributor to local coastal ecosystems and concerned about what it may mean in an era of climate change.
East Antarctica’s Denman Glacier has retreated almost 3 miles over last 22 years
East Antarctica’s Denman Glacier has retreated 5 kilometers, nearly 3 miles, in the past 22 years, and researchers are concerned that the shape of the ground surface beneath the ice sheet could make it even more susceptible to climate-driven collapse.
Beyond your doorstep: What you buy and where you live shapes land-use footprint
In recent years, the attention of scientists and environmentalists has turned toward how population growth and urban expansion are driving habitat loss and an associated decline in ecosystem productivity and biodiversity. But the space people directly occupy is only one part of the land-use puzzle, according to new research.
We’re taking coronavirus seriously. What if we did that with climate change?
There are a lot of parallels between the coronavirus and climate change. Both are existential threats that are directly affected by individual choices and actions but need coordinated, global action to slow them down. Both will hurt or kill the most vulnerable people.
Greenland’s melting ice raised global sea level by 2.2mm in two months
Analysis of satellite data reveals astounding loss of 600bn tons of ice last summer as Arctic experienced hottest year on record.