To get a sense of how bad the 2021 hurricane season will be, keep an eye on the African monsoon, ocean temperatures and a possible late-blooming La Niña.
The Biden administration has a goal of getting from today’s 42 megawatts of offshore wind power to nearly 30,000 by the end of the decade, but there are still obstacles ahead.
While land tornadoes are associated with huge supercell thunderstorms, waterspouts can form during smaller storms or even just showers or the presence of the right kind of clouds.
To increase renewable energy use, the Biden administration wants the US to go from seven offshore wind turbines today to enough to power 10 million homes within a decade.
The Atlantic Ocean is still growing physically, but humans are over-harvesting its rich fisheries. The most famous one – North Atlantic cod – has become a textbook example of harmful overfishing.
There were so many tropical storms in 2020, forecasters exhausted the list of names and started using Greek letters. And that’s only one reason 2020 was extreme.
A team of researchers found the southernmost tree and forest on Earth at the extreme tip of South America. Wind limits where trees grow on Isla Hornos and those wind patterns are shifting.
Laura went from a tropical storm to a major hurricane in less than 24 hours, sending coastal residents scrambling to prepare. Hurricanes Harvey and Michael exploded in strength in similar ways.
The transformation of the national electricity market has “progressed at a remarkable pace and scale” over the last year as it moves towards renewables, but security remains a critical issue.
Solar and wind can’t deliver power on demand. But overbuilding solar and wind, and simply dumping unneeded energy, would go a long way to smoothing out those bumps, study finds.
Twelve power projects are in the running for federal government dollars: six pumped hydro, five gas and one coal. It’s clear which one shouldn’t be on the list, for economic and environmental reasons.
Professor, School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences; ARC Centre of Excellence for the Weather of the 21st Century; ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes, The University of Melbourne