Environment May 21, 2013

Slower warming may alter models

A “pause” in global warming over the past decade may invalidate the harshest climate change predictions for the next 50 to 100 years, a study said Sunday — though levels remain in the danger zone. Writing in the journal Nature Geoscience, an international team ...

Environment May 14, 2013

Warming to hit half of plants, a third of animals: study

More than half of common species of plants and a third of animal species are likely to see their living space halved by 2080 on current trends of carbon emissions, a climate study said Sunday. Output of man-made greenhouse gases is putting Earth on ...

Environment May 6, 2013

Ocean warming threatens fish off U.S.: report

Fish stocks off U.S. coasts, restored to health over the past four decades by cooperation among competing interests and careful management, are being threatened anew by warming and increasingly acidic waters, according to a new report and experts who are gathering in Washington for ...

Environment Apr 30, 2013

California refines way to gauge water supply

Like a pitcher taking the mound on opening day, Frank Gehrke gets the media spotlight in California every April, when the otherwise obscure state water official trudges into the Sierra Nevada mountains and plunges aluminum tubes into the snow. With those snow samples — ...

Environment Apr 23, 2013

Late 20th century was warmest in 1,400 years

The Earth was cooling until the end of the 19th century, yet 100 years later the planet’s surface was on average warmer than at any time in the previous 1,400 years, according to climate records presented Sunday. In a study spanning two millenniums published ...

Environment Apr 10, 2013

Climate change may make flights bumpier

Flights will become bumpier as global warming destabilizes air currents at altitudes used by commercial airliners, climate scientists warned Monday. Already, atmospheric turbulence injures hundreds of airline passengers each year, sometimes fatally, damaging aircraft and costing the industry an estimated $150 million, scientists said. ...

Environment Apr 2, 2013

Explosive greening in Arctic Circle predicted

Land within the Arctic Circle is likely to experience explosive greening in the next few decades as grass, shrubs and trees thrive in soil stripped of ice and permafrost by global warming, according to a new study. Wooded areas in the Arctic could increase ...

Environment Mar 30, 2013

U.S. to set new rules for cleaner gasoline

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was to move ahead Friday with a rule requiring cleaner gasoline and lower-pollution vehicles nationwide, amounting to one of President Barack Obama’s most significant air pollution initiatives, according to people briefed on the decision. The proposed standards would add ...

Environment Mar 29, 2013

Climate change, harsh winters tied

Millions of people in northern Europe are still battling snow and ice, wondering why they are being punished with bitter cold when — officially — spring has arrived and Earth is in the grip of global warming. Yet some scientists, eyeing the fourth year ...