China’s severe weather patterns changing drastically since 1960

China’s severe weather patterns changing drastically since 1960

In one of the most comprehensive studies on trends in local severe weather patterns to date, an international team of researchers found that the frequency of hail storms, thunderstorms and high wind events has decreased by nearly 50 percent on average throughout…

Arctic shipping routes open

Arctic shipping routes open

Satellite measurements show we are heading for another year of below-average ice cover in the Arctic. As sea ice melts during the summer months, two major shipping routes have opened in the Arctic Ocean.In 2008 satellites saw that the Northwest Passage and the Northern

El Nino will get more extreme

El Nino will get more extreme

El Niño and La Niña are the warm and cold phases, respectively, of the pattern known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in the eastern half of the tropical Pacific. Forecasting how this pattern will behave a few months in advance is now…

Cold front, warm front

Cold front, warm front

Weather fronts are as familiar as rain. For those who live outside of Earth’s tropics, the movement of warm and cold masses of air creates the weather, and when the two clash, if often rains. Understanding what happens when cold and warm air meet (cold and warm

Water shortages and biodiversity loss in Himalayas affect villagers

Water shortages and biodiversity loss in Himalayas affect villagers

In the last few decades, farmers in the heavily-forested Darjeeling Hills of the Himalayas in India and Nepal have noticed something strange. Rivers and streams are drying up, crop yields are plummeting, and trees have begun to flower long before spring arrives. The