Iraq closed public buildings and temporarily shut airports Monday as another sandstorm—the ninth since mid-April—hit the country. More than 1,000 people were hospitalised across the nation with respiratory problems. The Iraqi…Continue readingIraq sandstorm grounds flights, sends 1,000 to hospitals
Tag: climate impact
Australia’s tropical rainforest trees have being dying at double the previous rate since the 1980s, seemingly because of global heating, according to new research that raises concerns tropical forests could start…Continue readingAustralia’s tropical rainforests have been dying faster for decades in ‘clear and stark climate warning’
Sandstorms across the Middle East have delayed flights, closed schools and hospitalised thousands—a phenomenon experts say could worsen as climate change warps regional weather patterns. The Middle East has always been…Continue readingMideast sandstorms snarl traffic, close schools, harm health
Jacobabad in Pakistan’s arid Sindh province is in the grip of the latest heatwave to hit South Asia—peaking at 51˚C (124˚F). Canals in the city—a vital source of irrigation for nearby…Continue readingExtreme temperatures compound poverty in Pakistan’s hottest city
Pakistan is in the grip of a blistering heatwave, with parts of the nation already scorched by temperatures of nearly 50˚C (122˚F) as officials warn of acute water shortages and a…Continue readingPakistan city hits nearly 50˚C (122˚F) as blistering heatwave grips nation
Humanity is “at a crossroads” when it comes to managing drought and accelerating mitigation must be done “urgently, using every tool we can,” says a new report from the United Nations…Continue readingWorld ‘at a crossroads’ in management of droughts, up 29% in a generation and worsening, reports the UN
Since 2000, more than 71 million hectares of dry forest have been destroyed, an area about twice the size of Germany. Many hotspots of deforestation are concentrated in South America, such…Continue readingTropical dry forests disappearing rapidly around the globe
Spanning more than 179,000 km2 (69,000 square miles) in Brazil, Paraguay and Bolivia, the Pantanal boasts one of the highest concentration of flora and fauna in South America while serving as…Continue readingThe Pantanal, the world’s largest wetland, is at risk of collapse
The Reef snapshot: summer 2021-22, quietly published by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority on Tuesday night after weeks of delay, said above-average water temperatures in late summer had caused…Continue reading‘Devastating’: 91% of reefs surveyed on Great Barrier Reef affected by coral bleaching in 2022
The relentless dry spell that is withering the American West is steadily warping normal life. Major reservoirs have baked down to record lows and are still dropping, threatening the ability to…Continue readingFacing a new climate reality, Southern California lawns could wither
Satellite images show a total area of destroyed forest cover of 1,012.5 square kilometres (391 square miles) from April 1 to 29, with the last day of the month yet to…Continue readingBrazil deforestation shatters April record
In the Horn of Africa as a whole, in an area stretching from northern Kenya to Somalia and swaths of Ethiopia, up to 20 million people could go hungry this year…Continue readingHorn of Africa ravaged by worst drought in four decades
21% of reptile species are threatened with extinction, including more than half of turtles and crocodiles. More than 40% of amphibians, 25% of mammals and 13% of birds could face extinction.…Continue readingOver 21% of reptile species at risk of extinction
Coral reefs are rapidly declining due to local environmental degradation and global climate change. In particular, corals are vulnerable to ocean heating. Hotter oceans can kill corals via expulsion of their…Continue readingPast the precipice? Projected coral habitability under global heating
In this mysterious woodland the cloud drapes over mountain ridges and “the trees are dwarfed and wind-sculpted, gnarled and heavily laden with mosses,” said J Alan Pounds, an ecologist at the…Continue readingLost golden toad heralds climate’s massive extinction threat
As a punishing, record-breaking drought enters its 13th year, Chile has announced an unprecedented plan to ration water for the capital of Santiago, a city of nearly 6 million. The plan…Continue readingChile announces unprecedented plan to ration water as drought enters 13th year
The Pope, Smith and Kohler glaciers, in the Amundsen Sea Embayment of West Antarctica, have experienced enhanced ocean-induced ice-shelf melt, glacier acceleration, ice thinning and grounding-line retreat in the past 30…Continue readingStudy – Rapid glacier retreat rates observed in West Antarctica
The research published in Nature Communications is the first of its kind and combines analysis of previous forest fire sites with eight drivers of fire activity including climate, fuel accumulation, ignition…Continue readingNew research links Australia’s forest fires to climate change
In 2009, an international team of researchers identified nine planetary boundaries that demarcate the remarkably stable state Earth has remained within for 10,000 years—since the dawn of civilization. These boundaries include…Continue readingSafe planetary boundary for pollutants, including plastics, exceeded
A few days before Christmas, Super-typhoon Rai – known locally as Odette – ravaged the Philippines. Lost lives continue to climb two weeks on. Vast numbers of buildings were destroyed –…Continue readingFilipinos count cost of climate crisis as typhoons get ever more destructive
The last time carbon dioxide levels were where they are today, at more than 415 parts per million, was 4 million years ago, and the result of the associated warming due…Continue readingScientist says time is running out for West Antarctic ice sheet
Land-clearing for crops in the Murray-Darling basin, the main winter breeding ground for the moths, Severe drought in the breeding grounds, Increased use of pesticides such as neonicotinoids in Australia (some…Continue reading‘A 99.5% decline’: what caused Australia’s bogong moth catastrophe?
Concurrent heatwaves the size of Mongolia or Iran were 7x more frequent in 2010s than 1980s. And their intensity rose 17%, and geographic extent increased 46%.Continue readingConcurrent heatwaves seven times more frequent than 1980s
Scientists estimate that 16.9 million vertebrates were killed by fires in the Pantanal wetlands, Brazil, between Jan & Nov 2020. Sampling likely excluded species incl. jaguars, pumas & tapirs, & doesn’t…Continue readingAlmost 17 million vertebrates killed in the 2020 wildfires in Brazil
The Arctic continues to warm more than twice as fast as the rest of the globe. Summer 2021 saw the second-lowest amount of older, multi-year ice since 1985, and the post-winter…Continue readingHumanity continues to degrade the Arctic
Scientists have discovered a series of worrying weaknesses in the ice shelf holding back one of Antarctica’s most dangerous glaciers, suggesting that this important buttress against sea level rise could shatter…Continue readingButressing of Thwaites glacier in Antarctica expected to fail within 10 years
While southern Australia experienced a wet winter and a soggy spring, northern Australia has seen the opposite. Extreme fire weather in October and November led to bushfires across 120,000 square kilometers…Continue readingWe are professional fire watchers, and we’re astounded by the scale of fires in remote Australia right now
The warming of the planet is taking a deadly toll on seabirds that are suffering population declines from starvation, inability to reproduce, heat waves and extreme weather. One estimate by researchers…Continue readingHuman greenhouse gas emissions kill seabirds
The drought and heatwaves that seared eastern Australia in the lead-up to the 2019-20 black summer bushfires killed as much as 60% of the trees in some areas that escaped the…Continue readingDrought and heatwaves in Australia cause widespread tree death
Climate scientists say the floods in 2019 and 2020 were driven in part by global warming-linked changes in a weather pattern called the Indian Ocean Dipole. In East Africa, this led to extreme…Continue readingRecord floods linked to climate change have left the people of South Sudan in crisis
216 out of 1,299 species are threatened – up from 195 in 2011 – with the climate crisis pushing more birds on to the list or increasing the threat status of those in…Continue readingOne in six Australian birds are now threatened
The Black Summer forest fires of 2019–2020 in Australia burned more than 24 million hectares (59 million acres), directly causing 33 deaths and almost 450 more from smoke inhalation. Nearly 3 billion animals…Continue readingForest fires in Australia are worsening
Climate change and warming waters are pushing black-browed albatross break-up rates higher. Typically after choosing a partner, only 1-3% would separate in search of greener romantic pastures. But in the years…Continue readingHuman emissions causing increasing rates of albatross break-ups
After the natural warming that followed the last Ice Age, there were repeated periods when masses of icebergs broke off from Antarctica into the Southern Ocean. A new data-model study led…Continue readingAntarctic ice sheet destabilized within a decade
Sequoias are the largest trees by volume and are native in only about 70 groves scattered along the western side of the Sierra Nevada range. They were once considered nearly fire-proof.…Continue readingUS wildfires have killed nearly 20% of world’s giant sequoias in 2 years
Three of British Columbia’s worst wildfire years have taken place in the last four years, and the widespread floods and mudslides last week took place after roughly a month’s worth of…Continue readingFloods and wildfires are now normal life in small-town Canada
From a study published in 2019: Biodiversity of insects is threatened worldwide. Our work reveals dramatic rates of decline that may lead to the extinction of 40% of the world’s insect…Continue readingOver 40% of insect species are threatened with extinction
Las Tablas de Daimiel is a unique wetland in the vast, almost treeless plains of Castilla-La Mancha in central Spain, but the park has had the life sucked out of it…Continue readingThe true cost of growing food in Spain’s arid south
If global warming is kept to 1.5˚C, the mix of corals on the Barrier Reef will change but it could still thrive, said the study’s lead author Professor Terry Hughes, of…Continue readingAustralia’s Great Barrier Reef will survive if warming kept to 1.5˚C
Where civilization emerged between the Tigris and Euphrates, climate change is poisoning the land and emptying the villages.Continue readingAcross Iraq’s south, there is a sense of an ending
Global warming has pushed what would’ve been a moderate drought in southwestern North America into megadrought territory. 2000–2018 was the driest 19 year period since the late 1500s. Climate model trends…Continue readingLarge contribution from anthropogenic warming to an emerging North American megadrought
Earth now faces a global extinction crisis never witnessed by humankind. Scientists predict that more than 1 million species are on track for extinction in the coming decades. Every taxon is…Continue readingThe Extinction Crisis
The death toll from days of flooding and landslides in India and Nepal crossed 100 on Wednesday, including several families swept away or crushed in their homes by avalanches of mud…Continue readingFloods, landslides kill 116 in India and Nepal
After Venice suffered the second-worst flood in its history in November 2019, it was inundated with four more exceptional tides within six weeks, shocking Venetians and triggering fears about the worsening…Continue readingFlooding in Venice worsens off-season amid climate change
In the largest city of Nicaragua’s sugar cane-growing region, agricultural workers – who have scant labour protection and usually come from poor families – see little option but to risk their…Continue readingGlobal heating is having a deadly impact on Nicaragua’s sugar cane workers, who toil in temperatures of up to 45˚C
Across the region, the price of historic dryness is being measured in lost crops, a slowdown in mining, surging transportation costs and shortages of energy in a region heavily dependent on…Continue readingIn South America, the climate future has arrived.
Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi, recorded rainfall of 185mm, about seven times the pre-2010 average for October. Shanxi is a land-locked province SW of Beijing. About 1.75 million people have been…Continue readingFloods in China
What the US Forest Service once characterized as a four-month-long fire season starting in late summer and early autumn now stretches into six to eight months of the year. Wildfires are…Continue reading2021 wildfires in western U.S.
Unusually powerful sandstorms have left at least six people dead in Sao Paulo in recent weeks, local media said, as southeastern Brazil grapples with severe drought. Scenes of huge orange dust…Continue readingExtreme drought in Brazil triggers fatal sand storms
Rossiglione, Italy, ended up with a mind-boggling 34.8 inches (883.8 mm) of rainfall over the course of 24 hours. The annual rainfall total for the nearby city of Genoa itself tops…Continue reading34 inches of rain in 24 hours breaks continental record
Up to 14½ inches (368mm) fell in Al Khaburah, which is just to the west of where the storm came ashore. The city of about 40,000 people averages between three and…Continue readingTropical Cyclone Shaheen produced as much as four years’ worth of rain in Oman
Russia has endured its worst forest fire season in the country’s modern history. Fires have destroyed more than 18.16 million hectares (45 million acres) of Russian forest in 2021, setting an…Continue readingRussia forest fire damage worst since records began
A severe drought, coupled with extreme temperatures, have sustained several major fires for much of August. As of 14 September, more than 7,000 wildfires have been recorded, burning over 900,000 hectares…Continue readingCalifornia continues to burn
The world’s coral reef cover has halved since the 1950s, ravaged by global heating, overfishing, pollution and habitat destruction, a trend that is projected to continue as the planet continues to…Continue readingHalf of global coral cover destroyed since the 1950s
260 Spanish troops are assisting firefighters battling a raging blaze that has emptied out villages and burned through forestland for days. “We have talked for a long time about the consequences…Continue readingMilitary deployed to fight fires in Spain
Climate change is amplifying war, civil unrest, displacement, poverty, hunger and water scarcity in Afghanistan, Somalia, Syria and Mali. Noor Ahmad Akhundzadah, a professor of hydrology at Kabul University: “Now there…Continue readingWar and Warming
Russia’s forestry agency says fires this year have torn through more than 50 million acres (173,000 square kilometres, 67,000 square miles), making it the second-worst season since the turn of the…Continue readingWildfires in Russia spread to central regions
The government said 200,000 hectares (495,000 acres) had burned in just two days.Continue readingWildfires devastate Bolivian nature reserves
“There is no place in the United States where you shouldn’t be resetting your expectations about Mother Nature disrupting your life,” said Roy Wright, president of the Insurance Institute for Business…Continue readingTennessee floods show a pressing climate danger across America: ‘Walls of water’
Rain has fallen on the summit of Greenland’s huge ice cap for the first time on record. Temperatures are normally well below freezing on the 3,216-metre (10,551ft) peak, and the precipitation…Continue readingRain falls on peak of Greenland ice cap for first time on record
John Battles, a professor of forest ecology at the University of California, Berkeley, said the fires are behaving in ways not seen in the past as flames churn through trees and…Continue readingFires harming California’s efforts to curb climate change
The Dixie Fire has scorched more than 940 square miles (2,434 square kilometers, 602,000 acres) in the northern Sierra Nevada and southern Cascades since it ignited on July 13 and eventually…Continue readingFueled by winds, largest wildfire moves near California city
Friday August 12: The heavy rainfall, expected to continue through Friday night, has brought about 20 inches (510mm) of rain to areas of Hubei since Wednesday, officials said. Four people were…Continue readingFlooding in China kills 21, as thousands escape to shelters
The Dixie fire raging through northern California has destroyed another 550 homes, becoming one of the most destructive in state history. The fire, the largest wildfire burning in the US, has all but leveled the town…Continue readingDixie fire burns 550 more homes, becoming one of most destructive in California history
The southern Murray-Darling Basin occupies the southern half of NSW and northern Victoria. It receives most of its water from rain in the cooler months that fills dams, with any overflow…Continue readingThe Murrumbidgee River’s wet season height has dropped by 30% since the 1990s, and the outlook is bleak
Rising sea levels and climate change are posing serious threats to the population and economy of several Asian coastal cities—Bangkok, Dhaka, Jakarta, Manila and Shanghai, among them. Threats come from a…Continue readingAs Asian cities sink, managed retreat must be tabled
As of Friday, more than 100 large fires were burning across 14 states. Smoke from Oregon’s Bootleg Fire, one of the nation’s largest at more than 413,000 acres burned, has already…Continue readingIn a summer of smoke, a small town wonders: ‘How are we going to do better than survive?’
The Paraná River, one of the main commercial waterways in South America, has reached its lowest level in nearly 80 years due to a prolonged drought in Brazil that scientists attribute…Continue readingDrought hits South America river, threatening vast ecosystem
The Mediterranean will be hit by ever fiercer heatwaves, drought and fires supercharged by rising temperatures, according to a draft United Nations assessment that warns the region is a “climate change…Continue readingMediterranean faces fiercer heatwaves, drought, fires: UN draft report
The Andes mountain range is facing historically low snowfall this year during a decade-long drought that scientists link to global warming. “Here we are seeing a process of long-term decrease in precipitation,…Continue reading‘Mega-drought’ leaves many Andes mountains without snow cover
The fire is one of 100 active large blazes in the United States, mostly torching parts of Western states that have been plagued by exceptional heat and drought, exacerbated by climate change. Those…Continue readingDixie Fire destroys much of California town as officials warn: ‘You MUST leave now’
Since 28 July, 180 fires have broken out in Turkey, while more than 100 were still burning in Greece. In Italy, the number of large wildfires is estimated to have tripled this summer…Continue readingWildfires continue to rage across southern Europe
The Klamath Basin in the western U.S. was once a string of pristine wetlands but in the middle of the 19th century settlers began diverting the three big rivers feeding the system…Continue readingYoung farmers in Klamath Basin lose hope
With more than a month to go in Siberia’s annual fire season, wildfires fuelled by summer heatwaves, have swept through more than 1.5 million hectares.Continue readingFighting Siberia’s wildfires – in pictures
Climate change is warming the Arabian Sea. The higher water temperatures are causing the air above to become warmer and hold more moisture. “We are seeing a three-fold rise in widespread extreme…Continue readingIndia monsoon death toll climbs
British Columbia declared a state of emergency on Monday, with more than 5,700 people under an evacuation order. “I have been living here in Ashcroft for almost 25 years now and I…Continue readingMore residents flee as fires ravage western Canada