Volcanic ash is made of tiny crystal and rock fragments that during an eruption can reach as high as the cruising altitude of commercial aircraft, and that’s a concern for airlines.
Social media helped some people cope with the Townsville floods earlier this year.
AAP Image/Andrew Rankin
An engineering professor explains why rural areas are especially vulnerable to hurricanes, and what they can do to ensure that no one is left without help.
Durban’s Bhambayi township was among the areas wrecked by heavy rains, mudslides and winds that have left more than 300 people dead.
RAJESH JANTILAL/AFP via Getty Images
The electric utility is seeing rapid changes and threats that affect consumers, from more wind and solar to wildfires. How they react depends in large part on regulators.
A U.S. Forest Service employee using a drop torch during a planned burn in Arizona’s Coconino National Forest.
USFS/Ian Horvath
Decades of wildfire suppression have allowed flammable fuels to pile up in US forests. Scientists and managers say careful use of planned fires can reduce risks of large, out-of-control burns.
Cholera vaccines have been given to people in Beira after an outbreak following Cyclone Idai.
EPA-EFE/Celeste Mac-Arthur
Pacific island nations are often framed as remote atolls facing rising seas and cyclones. But their cities are growing fast, so are efforts to help the most climate-vulnerable people hitting the mark?
A woman receiving an oral cholera vaccine in Beira, Mozambique.
Celeste Mac-Arthur
With heatwaves, droughts and fires all on the rise, the federal government is urged to merge its separate strategies on disaster resilience and climate readiness.
The aftermath of the Townsville floods brings increased risk of mosquitoes, which breed around water.
Dan Peled/AAP
The more water, the more mosquito eggs are laid, and the more mosquitoes end up buzzing about. But to spread disease to people, they first need to bite infected wildlife.
Treacherous bushfire conditions are predicted to grow even more frequent as the climate changes.
AAP Image/Andrew Brownbill
Black Saturday in 2009 was Australia’s worst bushfire tragedy. But climate projections predict more bushfire danger in the future, threatening our water supplies as well as homes.
We need to know we can handle whatever the climate throws at us.
AAP Image/Catherine Best
In the years after Black Saturday, climate adaptation research was in full swing, creating knowledge in how to deal with the risks. But a series of funding cuts have left this research in decline.
Monitoring the whereabouts of floodwaters is vital for protecting infrastructure.
AAP Image/Andrew Rankin
The flood zone around Townsville extends for hundreds of kilometres, making monitoring difficult even from the air. But scientists are testing a new satellite method that can peer through the clouds.
Heavy, wet snow can knock down tree limbs – and power lines.
AP Photo/Bill Sikes
Making electric grids better able to withstand extreme weather events will require teamwork from engineers, researchers and the government.
Haiti had not yet recovered from its devastating 2010 earthquake when it was hit hard by Hurricane Matthew in 2016. It is one of the world’s most vulnerable nations to climate change.
AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell
Haiti is extremely vulnerable to climate change. It is also very poor. International donors have stepped in to help the country fund climate mitigation, but is the money going where it’s most needed?