New research reveals how trees respond to extreme heat. Most trees lose more water than models predict. Some species cope better than others. Access to water will be critical for the hot summer ahead.
It’s not just ocean temperatures that determine whether we have El Niño or La Niña. Air circulation also plays a role, and it’s changing in unexpected ways.
Forecasters warned of ‘potentially historic rainfall’ and ‘dangerous to locally catastrophic flooding.’ A hurricane scientist explains what El Niño, a heat dome and mountains have to do with the risk.
Ian Enochs, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Water temperatures in the 90s off Florida in July are alarming, a NOAA coral scientist writes. Scientists in several North American countries have already spotted coral bleaching off their coasts.
Kevin Trenberth, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
Climate change is relentless and largely predictable, but it is influenced by natural variability. This means the largest temperature rise usually comes at the end of an El Niño event.
The El Niño is a reminder that bushfires are part of Australian life. But whether or not this fire season is a bad one, Australia must find a better way to manage bushfires.
Drought in Europe, dwindling Arctic sea ice, a slow start to the Indian monsoon – unusually hot ocean temperatures can disrupt climate patterns around the world, as an ocean scientist explains.
Over the past three years, Earth’s climate system has accumulated an average of 11 Hiroshima bombs’ worth of excess energy per second. And it’s showing in the current surge in ocean temperature.
Kevin Trenberth, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
2016 was the world’s warmest year on record, due in part to a very strong El Niño event. But 2023 (and 2024) could beat that record – what should we expect?