In late May of 2021, 172 runners set out to tackle a 100-kilometer (62-mile) ultramarathon in northwestern China. By midday, as the runners made their way through a rugged, high-elevation part of the course, temperatures plunged, strong winds whipped around the hillslopes and freezing rain and hail pummeled the runners. By the next day, the […]
American Geophysical Union
Posted inEnviro
Climate change is shrinking and fragmenting salmon habitat in the Northwest
Salmon famously travel hundreds of miles upstream to reach their home waters to spawn, but climate change is shrinking their destination. A new study offers high-resolution details on how Chinook salmon habitats are being lost on Bear Valley Creek, a headwater stream of the Salmon River in central Idaho. The study, published today in the AGU journal Geophysical Research […]
Posted inSci/Tech
When the Western U.S. Burns, the East Also Gets Sick
While most of the largest U.S. wildfires occur in the Western U.S., almost three-quarters of the smoke-related deaths and visits to the emergency room for asthma occur east of the Rocky Mountains. Smoke exposure, whether from wildfires or local burning, contributes to health problems across the U.S., but the impacts vary by region. A new […]
Posted inCalifornia
Wildfire smoke may lead to less rain in the western US
As wildfires and heatwaves stress the western United States, concern over drought is rising: Dry landscapes burn more readily, and rain can help quell fires already raging. But wildfire smoke may keep that essential rain from falling. A new study finds tiny particles in wildfire smoke affect the way droplets form in clouds, potentially resulting in […]
Posted inSci/Tech
Climate has shifted the axis of the Earth
WASHINGTON April 23, 2021 – Glacial melting due to global warming is likely the cause of a shift in the movement of the poles that occurred in the 1990s. The locations of the North and South poles aren’t static, unchanging spots on our planet. The axis Earth spins around—or more specifically the surface that invisible […]
Posted inCalifornia
Climate change could deliver more sediment and pollution to the San Francisco Bay-Delta
September 4, 2020 – Climate change could deliver more silt, sand and pollution to the San Francisco Bay-Delta, along with a mixed bag of other potential consequences and benefits, according to a new study in the AGU journal Water Resources Research, which publishes research articles and commentaries providing a broad understanding of the role of water in Earth’s natural […]
Posted inSci/Tech
Last Arctic Ice Refuge Is Disappearing
WASHINGTON November 12, 2019 – The oldest and thickest Arctic sea ice is disappearing twice as fast as ice in the rest of the Arctic Ocean, according to new research. A new study in AGU’s journal Geophysical Research Letters finds ice in the Arctic Ocean north of Greenland is more mobile than previously thought, as ocean currents and atmospheric […]
Posted inSci/Tech
Climate change expected to accelerate spread of sometimes-fatal fungal infection: valley fever
WASHINGTON, Sept. 16, 2019 —Valley fever is endemic to hot and dry regions like the southwestern United States and California’s San Joaquin Valley, but a new study predicts climate change will cause the fungal infection’s range to more than double in size this century, reaching previously unaffected areas across the western U.S. In a new […]
Posted inRegional
Back-to-back low snow years will become more common, study projects
WASHINGTON, Aug. 9, 2019 – Consecutive low snow years may become six times more common across the Western United States over the latter half of this century, leading to ecological and economic challenges such as expanded fire seasons and poor snow conditions at ski resorts, according to a study. “Across the West, we’re generally losing […]
Posted inWorld
Almost half of World Heritage sites could lose their glaciers by 2100
WASHINGTON, April 30, 2019 – Glaciers are set to disappear completely from almost half of World Heritage sites if business-as-usual emissions continue, according to the first-ever global study of World Heritage glaciers. The sites are home to some of the world’s most iconic glaciers, such as Grosser Aletschgletscher in the Swiss Alps, Khumbu Glacier in […]
Posted inSci/Tech
Population increases and climate change point to future US water shortages
WASHINGTON, Feb. 28, 2019 – Climate change plus population growth are setting the stage for water shortages in parts of the U.S. long before the end of the century, according to a new study in the AGU journal Earth’s Future. Even efforts to use water more efficiently in municipal and industrial sectors won’t be enough […]
Posted inSci/Tech
Human-Caused Warming Likely Intensified Hurricane Harvey’s Rains
NEW ORLEANS, Dec. 13, 2017 – New research shows human-induced climate change increased the amount and intensity of Hurricane Harvey’s unprecedented rainfall. The new findings are being published in two separate studies and being presented in a press conference today at the 2017 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, along with additional new findings about recent […]
Posted inEnviro
Flights worldwide face increased risk of severe turbulence due to climate change
WASHINGTON D.C. Oct. 4, 2017 – Flights all around the world could be encountering lots more turbulence in the future, according to the first ever global projections of in-flight bumpiness. A new study published online in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union, has calculated that climate change will significantly increase the amount […]
Posted inEnviro
Ship exhaust makes oceanic thunderstorms more intense
WASHINGTON D.C. Sept. 7, 2017 — Thunderstorms directly above two of the world’s busiest shipping lanes are significantly more powerful than storms in areas of the ocean where ships don’t travel, according to new research. A new study mapping lightning around the globe finds lightning strokes occur nearly twice as often directly above heavily-trafficked shipping […]
Posted inSci/Tech
1967 solar storm nearly took US to brink of war
WASHINGTON, DC, Aug. 9, 2016 — A solar storm that jammed radar and radio communications at the height of the Cold War could have led to a disastrous military conflict if not for the U.S. Air Force’s budding efforts to monitor the sun’s activity, a new study finds. On May 23, 1967, the Air Force […]