Climatic and Environmental Convulsions
Forecasters Predict Above-Average 2011 Atlantic Hurricane Season
04/06/2011 21:14
CSU News:
In its 28th year of issuing predictions, the Colorado State University forecast team today predicted an above-average 2011 Atlantic basin hurricane season. The team slightly reduced its early December prediction, but still called for an active season based on current La Nina...
Oklahoma sees driest 4 months since Dust Bowl
04/06/2011 21:02
TownHall:
In most years, the dark clouds over western Oklahoma in the spring would be bringing rain. This year, they're more likely to be smoke from wildfires that have burned thousands of acres in the past month as the state and its farmers struggle with a severe drought.
Oklahoma was drier in...
Ozone layer damaged by unusually harsh winter
04/05/2011 21:41
The Independent:
The stratospheric ozone layer, which shields the Earth from the Sun's harmful ultraviolet rays, has been damaged to its greatest-ever extent over the Arctic this winter.
The protective layer of gas, which can be destroyed by reactions with industrial chemicals, has suffered...
Warming Oceans Are Fueling Stronger Hurricanes, Study Finds
03/31/2011 10:06
National Geographic:
John Roach
for National Geographic News
March 16, 2006
Rising ocean surface temperatures are the primary factor fueling a 35- year trend of stronger, more intense hurricanes, scientists report in a new study.
The finding backs up the results of two controversial papers...
Hurricanes Have Doubled Due to Global Warming, Study Says
03/31/2011 09:08
National Geographic:
The number of Atlantic hurricanes that form each year has doubled over the past century and global warming is largely to blame, according a new study.
The increase occurred in two major steps of about 50 percent each, one in the 1930s and the second since 1995.
"It...
Extreme Storms and Floods Concretely Linked to Climate Change?
03/31/2011 08:58
National Geographic:
Brian Handwerk
for National Geographic News
Published February 16, 2011
If you were following headlines when Pakistan was underwater last year, you’ve heard that there may be a connection between climate change and increased flooding. Now new studies of severe storms and...
Extreme Ocean Storms On the Rise, Tremors Show
03/31/2011 08:52
National Geographic:
Kimberly Johnson
for National Geographic News
April 25, 2008
Extreme ocean storms have ramped up in frequency over the past 30 years, according to new research based on small tremors.
The faint tremors, called microseisms, are periodic movements of Earth's surface that...
Earth Getting Mysteriously Windier
03/31/2011 08:44
National Geographic:
Mason Inman
for National Geographic News
Published March 28, 2011
The world has gotten stormier over the past two decades—and the reason is a mystery, a new study says.
In the past 20 years, winds have picked up around 5 percent on average.
Extremely strong winds caused...
Alert level at Indonesia volcano raised to highest
03/19/2011 16:21
NYDN:
JAKARTA, Indonesia—Indonesia has raised the alert level at one of its most active volcanos to the highest after it repeatedly sent hot clouds of gas down its slopes.
Volcanology hazard mitigation chief Surono says authorities have been ordered to evacuate people living along Mount...
Japanese volcano erupts
03/13/2011 09:34
Live:
A volcano in southwestern Japan erupted Sunday after nearly two weeks of relative silence, sending ash and rocks up to four kilometers (two and a half miles) into the air, a local official says.
It was not immediately clear if the eruption was a direct result of the massive 8.9 (now raised...
3-D Image of Joplin's 2011-05-22 Tornado
