Global Climate Change


Studies Shed Light on Why Species Stay or Go in Response to Climate Change

Two new studies by scientists at UC Berkeley provide a clearer picture of why some species move in response to climate change, and where they go.

Climate and Drought Lessons From Ancient Egypt

Ancient pollen and charcoal preserved in deeply buried sediments in Egypt's Nile Delta document the region's ancient droughts and fires, including a huge drought 4,200 years ago associated with the demise of Egypt's Old Kingdom, the era known as the pyramid-building time.

Warming Causes More Extreme Shifts of the Southern Hemisphere's Largest Rain Band

The changes will result from the South Pacific rain band responding to greenhouse warming. The South Pacific rain band is largest and most persistent of the Southern Hemisphere spanning the Pacific from south of the Equator, south-eastward to French Polynesia.

Protected Areas Allow Wildlife to Spread in Response to Climate Change

A new study led by scientists at the University of York has shown how birds, butterflies, other insects and spiders have colonised nature reserves and areas protected for wildlife, as they move north in response to climate change and other environmental changes.

Urban Sun Corridor 4 Degrees Warmer?

According to the United Nations' 2011 Revision of World Urbanization Prospects, global urban population is expected to gain more than 2.5 billion new inhabitants through 2050.

Diversity Keeps Grasslands Resilient to Drought Climate Change

For much of the year drought has been plaguing American grasslands. But a recent study found that grasses do not appear to be losing the turf war against climate when it comes to surviving with little precipitation.

Global Water Sustainability Flows Through Natural and Human Challenges

Water's fate in China mirrors problems across the world: fouled, pushed far from its natural origins, squandered and exploited.

Diversity Keeps Grasslands Resilient to Drought Climate Change

For much of the year drought has been plaguing American grasslands. But a recent study found that grasses do not appear to be losing the turf war against climate when it comes to surviving with little precipitation.



New Global Warming Culprit: Methane Emissions Jump Dramatically During Dam Drawdowns

Washington State University researchers have documented an underappreciated suite of players in global warming: dams, the water reservoirs behind them, and surges of greenhouse gases as water levels go up and down.

Research Links Extreme Summer Heat Events to Global Warming

A new statistical analysis by NASA scientists has found that Earth's land areas have become much more likely to experience an extreme summer heat wave than they were in the middle of the 20th century.

Birds That Live With Varying Weather Sing More Versatile Songs

A new study of North American songbirds reveals that birds that live with fluctuating weather are more flexible singers.

Giant Moa Had Climate Change Figured Out

An international team of scientists involving researchers from the University of Adelaide has used ancient DNA from bones of giant extinct New Zealand birds to show that significant climate and environmental changes did not have a large impact on their populations.

Ancient Coral Reefs at Risk From Deforestation and Land Use Practices

A team of international scientists, including a researcher from The University of Western Australia, has found that soil erosion, land degradation and climate change pose a mounting threat to coastal reefs and their ecosystems in the western Indian Ocean.

Climate Warming Refuted as Reason for Plant Shifts in High-Profile 2008 Study

Many simple models of plant response to warming climates predict vegetation to find cooler and/or wetter locations, generally moving upslope from their current positions. However, the mechanisms explaining species-specific responses to changes in temperature and water availability are most likely much more complex, according to researchers at Texas Tech University and the United States Geological Survey.

Hong Kong Temperature Predicted to Rise by 2 to 3 Degrees Celcius in 30 Years

The temperature in the inner urban areas of Hong Kong is predicted to rise by 2 to 3 Celsius degree in 30 years' time, according to the latest scientific study by researchers at the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Cooling, Not Population Loss, Led to Fewer Fires After 1500 in New World

In the years after Columbus' voyage, burning of New World forests and fields diminished significantly -- a phenomenon some have attributed to decimation of native populations by European diseases. But a new University of Utah-led study suggests global cooling resulted in fewer fires because both preceded Columbus in many regions worldwide.

Study: Cool Climate, Not Population Loss, Led to Fewer Fires

In the years after Columbus' voyage, burning of New World forests and fields diminished significantly – a phenomenon some have attributed to decimation of native populations by European diseases. But a new University of Utah-led study suggests global cooling resulted in fewer fires because both preceded Columbus in many regions worldwide.

Chronic 2000-04 Drought May Be the New Normal

The chronic drought that hit western North America from 2000 to 2004 left dying forests and depleted river basins in its wake and was the strongest in 800 years, scientists have concluded, but they say those conditions will become the "new normal" for most of the coming century.

How Extreme Weather Contributes to Greenhouse Gas Emissions

While experts debate whether extreme weather conditions such as this summer’s record rainfall can be explained by climate change, University of Leicester geographers are investigating whether the opposite is true – does extreme weather impact on climate change?

Climate Change Linked to Ozone Loss: May Result in More Skin Cancer

For decades, scientists have known that the effects of global climate change could have a potentially devastating impact across the globe, but Harvard researchers say there is now evidence that it may also have a dramatic impact on public health.