A new outlook from the Bureau of Meteorology forecasts a dry, warm spring – and not the sustained rain we need.
The 2016 Maple fire (photographed in July 2017) reburned young forests that had regenerated after the 1988 Yellowstone fires. More frequent high-severity fires are expected in the future as climate warms, which may change patterns of forest recovery.
Monica Turner
Huge fires roared through Yellowstone National Park in the summer of 1988, scorching one-third of the park. Since then the park has been a valuable lab for studying how forests recover from fires.
Scott Morrison visiting a Queensland farm this week.
Alex Ellinghausen/AAP
The Coalition’s primary vote has plunged 4 points to 33%, and Labor’s vote has jumped from 35% to 41%, in The Australian’s poll, which comes as Morrison moved quickly to announce his ministerial team.
Fires burning in NSW are harbingers of what’s to come.
LUKAS COCH/AAP
The government has offered emergency payments to drought-stricken farmers. But if we really care about them, we’ll also invest in long-term drought resilience measures to reduce impacts.
Water from an irrigation system sprays flowering cotton plants on the farm of Allen Entz in Hydro, Okla, Aug. 16, 2012.
AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki
The Ogalalla Aquifer is a vast underground lake that irrigates farms across the US Great Plains. It took thousands of years to fill, but human use could drain it in roughly a century.
Desalination is an extraordinarily expensive option.
SAM MOOY/AAP
Farmers experience drought-related stress. Improving their mental health enhances adaptive capacity and resilience. Drought support must address relationships between drought and mental health.
Firefighters and volunteers battle a blaze near Loutraki in southern Greece.
Vassilis Psomas/EPA
From Greece, to the UK, to Japan and even Sweden, a slew of places in the Northern Hemisphere are suffering extreme heat. And the chances of extreme heat records tumbling are growing all the time.
Globally consumers are increasingly taking charge of their own drinking water supply.
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We rely on climate data to help us make important decisions for our future, such as building infrastructure. But what if a region’s climate has long been more volatile than we realised?
In South Africa, Cape Town fears “Day Zero”, when the city will have to ration water drastically. The phenomenon threatens other cities as well but solutions exist.
It would be in Africa’s best interests to limit a rise in global temperature.
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New research projects that climate change could greatly increase airborne dust levels in the southwestern US, causing higher hospital admissions and premature deaths from heart and lung ailments.