Extremes

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain In the context of global warming, many extremes, such as heat waves, heavy precipitation, and droughts, have become increasingly frequent and intense, as expected theoretically. Somewhat unexpectedly, these extremes have also exhibited tightened linkage in both time and space, constituting compound weather and climate extremes with larger impacts. …

Credit: Pixabay As temperature records tumble, and the threat of bushfires and dry conditions looms large, an international study by Flinders University and Argentinian researchers renews the urgency of calls to make more concerted efforts to prepare for climate extremes in South Australia. Highs and lows in temperature and rainfall indices over the…

Credit: CC0 Public Domain Scientists at British Antarctic Survey have found that the number of warm weather events in the South Orkney Islands has significantly increased in frequency over the last 75 years. Using newly available historical data, scientists have identified the atmospheric factors behind the warm events in the region, shedding new light on the climate change trends that are affecting sub-Antarctic islands.…

Schematic illustration of the confluence of factors, including large-scale atmospheric circulation and local-scale land-atmosphere feedbacks, underlying the 2021 Pacific Northwest heat-wave event. Credit: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2024). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2315330121 From late June to mid-July of 2021, the Pacific Northwest was scorched under an unprecedented heat dome, shattering temperature records and…

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have observed water and molecules essential for rocky planet formation in a highly irradiated area of the Lobster Nebula. This discovery, part of the XUE program, expands the known environments where rocky planets can form, challenging previous beliefs and providing new insights into exoplanet diversity. Astronomers find a range of molecules that are among the building blocks for rocky planets. Space is a harsh environment, but some areas are even harsher than others. A…

Massive clouds form at the ridge of the Sierras de Córdoba range in Argentina, which could cause extreme precipitation. Credit: Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Office of Science user facility Daily predictions of rainstorms are useful for helping us decide whether we should bring an umbrella or not when we run errands. But scientists, urban planners, and many others need to know about precipitation…

Climate change is causing songbirds to nest earlier in spring, but this shift exposes them to increased temperature variability, including cold snaps and heatwaves. A study by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology found that these extremes lead to more nest failures, particularly affecting nestlings.Nestlings are the most vulnerable to temperature extremesMany songbirds are nesting earlier in spring because of warmer temperatures brought about by climate change. But the shift brings another danger that is especially deadly for…

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Supermarket customers around New Zealand are noticing gaps in the grocery aisles that have nothing to do with the global pandemic or Ukraine war. It's clear domestic food supply chains have been increasingly challenged by natural disasters and the ongoing impact of climate change. Countdown…

Maritime trade at-risk. a, Cross-border downtime risk for import flows of countries. b, Same as a but for exports. c, Top 30 countries in terms of maritime trade at-risk (in value terms), including a breakdown between domestic and cross-border downtime risk. Basemaps in a,b from GADM (gadm.org). The country codes refer to country ISO-alpha3 code. Credit: Nature Climate Change (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41558-023-01754-w More than…

Rutgers researchers have found that life on Earth predominantly comes in the largest and smallest sizes, with the planet’s biomass concentrated in organisms at either end of the size spectrum. The surprising discovery was made after a five-year study analyzing data on the size and biomass of every type of living organism. The pattern favoring large and small organisms held across all species types and was more pronounced in land-based organisms than in marine environments. The study highlights the importance of microbes…