In a newly published study, researchers detail the atmospheric circulation patterns of Uranus and Neptune, finding that the streams of gas observed in the atmosphere are limited to a “weather layer” of no more than about 1000 km in depth. What is the long-range weather forecast for the giant planets Uranus and Neptune? These planets [...]

A new study from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory found that 700,000 square kilometers of forest in southwestern Amazonia is still suffering from a megadrought that began 2005. Pasadena, California – An area of the Amazon rainforest twice the size of California continues to suffer from the effects of a megadrought that began in 2005, finds [...]

El Niño events are not as predictable as previously thought. According to new analyses of climate records locked within ancient corals, the frequency and strength of the ocean-warming phenomenon were more variable during the last century than, on average, during the past 7,000 years. The scientists published their findings in the journal Science¹. The finding [...]

Atmospheric rivers are long, narrow conveyor belts of rainstorms that stream in from the Pacific Ocean. Meteorologists have been able to predict the storms five days in advance, thanks to a new network of weather sensors recently installed in California. The network is only partially complete, and will be finished in 2014. It should allow [...]

Most orbiting satellites point down towards Earth, but the satellites of the Constellation Observing System for Meteorology look sideways. Ionosphere and Climate (COSMIC) look towards the curving horizon in order to track the dozens of satellites that are part of the Global Positioning System. By tracking their radio signals, COSMIC is providing atmospheric data that [...]

Rising temperatures, persistent drought, and depleted aquifers could set the stage for a second Dust Bowl, a period of drought and dust storms that affected the prairies in the USA and Canada during the 1930s. The southern Great Plains have been ravaged, and a cool October broke a 16-month streak of higher than average temperatures [...]

In Boulder, Colorado, local cattle have developed immunity against the poisonous larkspur flowers that grow amongst the more edible grasses, making decisions to sell cattle a tough one. A rancher culling a herd he can’t afford to feed faces a problem restocking once economics improve, the replacements may die if they binge on the larkspur. [...]

Hurricane Sandy has been downgraded to a post-cyclone storm, and most of the devastating effects of the hurricane are past, but people in 22 states in the USA are still dealing with the effects of its landfall. Hurricane Sandy grew big enough to become an awesome visual spectacle even from space, growing to an enormous [...]

If scientists are able to figure out the precise weight of the world’s oceans it will allow them to model changes in the sea level more accurately. With the record ice melt this past summer, it would help ensure the safety of the cities on the coastlines that are vulnerable to any rise of the [...]

This year, the Arctic sea experienced a record ice melt during the summer and this might mean that northern Europe will experience a frigid winter. In the past years, when there was a lot of ice melt, there were bad winters. Jennifer Francis, a researcher at Rutgers University, states that they can’t make any certain [...]

Last year, the USA was hit with floods in the Mississippi River, caused by major storms and melting snow. More than 3,000 square miles were flooded as the Army Corps of Engineers lifted the floodgates of the Morganza Spillway. The first photo was taken in August 2011 by NASA’s Landsat 5 satellite of the swollen [...]

There has been a definite, palpable impact on the Earth’s climate by global warming. The unusual high frequency of heatwaves indicate that there has to be a human influence. As much of the USA sizzles through another scorching summer and the Midwest endures a historic drought, NASA’s climatologist James Hansen states that the future he [...]