Current Events

  • Irish Chronicles Document Links Between Volcanoes and Weather
    A study of over 40,000 written entries in Irish Annals and ice core measurements shows a strong corr...Read more

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    Irish Chronicles Document Links Between Volcanoes and Weather

    A study of over 40,000 written entries in Irish Annals and ice core measurements shows a strong correlation between the occurrence of volcanic eruptions and extreme cold weather in Ireland over a 1200 year period. Data analyzed in this study cover the period from 431 to 1649, during which time up to 48 volcanic eruptions are identified in Greenland ice core records through deposition of volcanic sulfate in annual layers of ice. You can find the study (open access), published on 6 June 2013 in IOP Publishing's journal Environmental Research Letters, at http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/8/2/024035/article. Find out more about how volcanoes can influence climate.
  • EF-5 Tornado in El Reno, Oklahoma Widest Ever Recorded in US
    The EF-5 tornado that hit El Reno, Oklahoma on May 31st was the widest ever recorded in the US, acco...Read more

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    EF-5 Tornado in El Reno, Oklahoma Widest Ever Recorded in US

    The EF-5 tornado that hit El Reno, Oklahoma on May 31st was the widest ever recorded in the US, according to the National Weather Service in Norman Oklahoma. The tornado, which remained on the ground for 40 minutes and reached 2.6 miles across (4.2 km), took the lives of 18 people including storm chasers Tim Samaras, Paul Samaras and Carl Young. For more information on the tornado, visit http://ow.ly/i/2hfDG.
  • Atmospheric CO2 Level Tops 400 ppm
    During the week of May 13th, the CO2 level at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii topped 400 ppm rep...Read more

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    Atmospheric CO2 Level Tops 400 ppm

    During the week of May 13th, the CO2 level at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii topped 400 ppm repeatedly. Daily levels of CO2 can vary due to weather, and there are seasonal trends as well. The level of atmospheric greenhouse gases continues to increase, now over 120 ppm since the Industrial Revolution began. For more on the Keeling Curve, see http://keelingcurve.ucsd.edu/. Find out more about greenhouse gases and warming.

Climate and Global Change

Warm near the equator and cold at the poles, our planet is able to support a variety of living things because of its diverse regional climates. The average of all these regions makes up Earth's global climate. Climate has cooled and warmed throughout Earth history for various reasons. Rapid warming like we see today is unusual in the history of our planet. The scientific consensus is that climate is warming as a result of the addition of heat-trapping greenhouse gases which are increasing dramatically in the atmosphere as a result of human activities.
Earth's global average surface <a href="/earth/climate/ipcc_feb2007.html">warming</a> relative to the 1980-1999 average over the past 100 years is shown in the black line. Predictions of the amount of warming in the future are shown by the red, green, and purple lines. These predictions, developed with <a href="/earth/climate/cli_models.html">computer models</a>, make different assumptions about how many <a href="/earth/climate/cli_greengas.html">greenhouse gases</a> we release into the atmosphere in the future.<p><small><em> A Windows to the Universe image based on a graph from the IPCC 4th Assessment Report</em></small></p>A <a href="http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/8/2/024035/article">study</a> of over 40,000 written entries in Irish Annals and ice core measurements shows a strong correlation between <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/interior/eruptions.html">volcanic eruptions</a> and extreme cold weather in Ireland over a 1200 year period, from 431 to 1649. During this time up to 48 volcanic eruptions were identified in Greenland ice core records through deposition of volcanic sulfate in annual layers of ice. Find out more about <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/climate/geosphere_volcanoes_influence_on_climate.html">volcanoes and climate</a>.<p><small><em>Image Courtesy of Marco Fulle</em></small></p>Roaming across Arctic <a href="/earth/polar/sea_ice.html">sea ice</a>, <a href="/earth/polar/polar_bears_jan07.html">polar bears</a> peer through cracks in the ice to look for ringed seals, their favorite food, in the water below. Almost all of a polar bear's food comes from the sea. The <a href="/earth/polar/sea_ice.html">floating sea ice</a> is a perfect vantage point for the bears as they hunt for food. Unfortunately, the amount of sea ice floating in the <a href="/earth/polar/polar_north.html">Arctic region</a> is shrinking each year, and getting farther apart.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of Ansgar Walk. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.</em></small></p>Coral animals build reefs in warm, tropical seawater. However, <a href="/earth/changing_planet/ocean_temperatures_intro.html">seawater can be too warm</a> for their liking. If waters get too warm, coral animals lose the algae that live within their little bodies, a process called coral bleaching. Without the algae, corals have less nutrition. Unless cooler temperatures return, allowing algae to return, the coral dies.<p><small><em>Credit: UNC</em></small></p>Many forms of air pollution are human-made. Industrial plants, power plants and vehicles with internal combustion engines produce <a href="/earth/climate/nitrogen_airpollution.html">nitrogen oxides</a>, <a href="/earth/Atmosphere/vocs.html">VOCs</a>, <a href="/physical_science/chemistry/carbon_monoxide.html">carbon monoxide</a>, <a href="/physical_science/chemistry/carbon_dioxide.html">carbon dioxide</a>, <a href="/physical_science/chemistry/sulfur_oxides.html">sulfur dioxide</a> and <a href="/earth/Atmosphere/particulates.html">particulates</a>. Some of these gases are <a href="/earth/climate/cli_greengas.html">greenhouse gases</a>, meaning that they retain heat in the Earth's atmosphere, due to the Earth's <a href="/earth/climate/earth_greenhouse.html">greenhouse effect</a>.<p><small><em>Image copyright UCAR</em></small></p>Greenland’s <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/polar/cryosphere_glacier1.html">ice sheet</a> saw a record <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/headline_universe/olpa/greenland_10dec07.html">melt</a> in July 2012. Scientists studying this event have found that this melting event was triggered by an influx of unusually warm air and amplified by the presence of a blanket of thin low-level <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Atmosphere/cloud.html">clouds</a> which pushed temperatures up above freezing. For more information see the <a href="http://www.news.wisc.edu/21638">press release</a> from the University of Wisconsin Madison.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of University of Wisconsin-Madison</em></small></p>

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Explore Climate and Global Change

What Is Climate?

The climate where you live is called regional climate. It is the average weather in a place ...Read more

What Controls the Climate System?

Some of the factors that have an affect on climate, like volcanic eruptions and changes in ...Read more

Climates of the Past (Paleoclimates)

Earth's climate has been changing for billions of years. It warmed and cooled many times long ...Read more

Our Changing Planet

Our planet is changing rapidly. Check out videos and lesson plans for key climate change indicators ...Read more

Effects of Climate Change Today

Over 100 years ago, people worldwide began burning more coal and oil for homes, factories, ...Read more

Climate Change in Polar Regions

The effects of climate change are not the same in all parts of the world. While Earth’s average ...Read more

El Nino and Other Climate Events

Sometimes there is a change in the way air moves through parts of the atmosphere. And there ...Read more

The Role of Clouds in Climate

Clouds are an important part of Earth's weather and climate. Scientists use computer models ...Read more

Energy Choices and Climate Change

The choices we make about the sources of the energy we use and the amount of energy we use affect ...Read more

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

The IPCC is a group of hundreds of experts from more than 100 countries ...Read more

Tackling the Global Warming Challenge

Earth’s climate is warming and we humans are mostly to blame.  By releasing greenhouse gases ...Read more

More about Climate and Global Change

Historical Events

6/18 Florence Bascom, an American geologist, died on this date in 1945 Details
6/25 Hermann Oberth,a Romanian and German physicist, was born on this date in 1894 Details
6/28 Maria Mitchell, an American astronomer, died on this date in 1889 Details

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Did you know?

Did you know that a significant portion of sea level rise is due to the expansion of sea water due to increasing temperature?

Did you know that the Arctic is warming?

 

Earth and Space Science Concept of the Day

Do you know what this word or phrase means?

Tuff
xTuff : A type of rock consisting of consolidated volcanic ash ejected from vents during a volcanic eruption

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Research Highlights

East Africa's Lake Tanganyika is Warming More Than Ever Before

Geologists think that the waters of Lake Tanganyika, a long lake located in East Africa, has experienced a huge amount of warming in the last 100 years. Currently, the surface water of this lake is the...Read more

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