Winters are getting warmer, yet Bostonians were digging out from nearly 2 feet of snow from a historic blizzard in late January. Why is the Northeast seeing more big snowstorms like this?
A rainy day in Baffin Island, northern Canada.
Petr Kahanek / shutterstock
Water-related hazards are exceptionally destructive, and the impact of climate change on extreme water-related events is increasingly evident, a lead author of the new report warns.
James Renwick, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
New Zealand’s climate has been changing in line with global trends over the last century, warming by 1.1℃. But unless we curb emissions fast, we can brace for more extreme downpours and droughts.
In high alpine terrain, sun and dry air can turn snow straight into water vapor.
Jeffrey Pang/WikimediaCommons
As rivers run dry in the Rocky Mountains and the West, it’s easy to wonder where all the snow you see on mountain peaks goes. Some of it ends up in the air, but researchers aren’t sure how much.
Elizabeth Lewis, Newcastle University; Edouard Davin, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, and Ronny Meier, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich
Mass tree planting could affect precipitation patterns.
Lake Poopó at a low point in early 2016.
Chiliguanca / flickr
As the world’s largest rainforest, the Amazon is not only an important carbon sink, but also home to thousands of species of plants and animals and a crucial part of the water cycle.
Andrew Lorrey, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research; Ben Noll, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, and Lauren Vargo, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
Auckland’s extreme drought and the rapid retreat of glaciers in the Southern Alps both highlight how important long-term observations are for water management policy and planning.
If we’re not careful, water may not be clean enough or available when we need it.
(Shutterstock)
Satellites hundreds of miles overheard are helping scientists to predict drought, track floods and see how climate change is changing access to water resources.
Cenota Samula sinkhole in Yucatan, Mexico.
Tono Balaguer/Shutterstock
Footprints get people thinking about their own impact, but for water the analogy simply doesn’t work.
Sometimes air goes up past the condensation level then falls back below the condensation level, then up, then below, again and again. This creates clouds that are stripy, often with lines between the clouds.
Robert Lawry/Author provided
Clouds formed by rising warm air currents are called ‘convection clouds’. Because of all the rising air coming up, these clouds can be bumpy on top, sometimes looking like cotton wool or cauliflower.
After centuries of war, Japan’s well-attuned environmental practices spurred rapid growth.
mharrsch/Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art
After two and a half years, the embattled Japanese government and Tepco, the company responsible for the Fukushima nuclear power plant, have sought the world’s assistance in tackling the three damaged…
A sliver of hope as forests learn to consume more CO2.
Moyan Brenn
Global warming is primarily driven by increasing emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities. Chief among these gases is carbon dioxide (CO2), which warms the planet by trapping heat that would…