Science Daily: Climate News

The onset date of the yearly rainy season reliably predicts if seasonal drought will occur in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa that are particularly vulnerable to food insecurity, and could help to mitigate its effects.

Researchers present a new framework for calculating the remaining carbon budget that is able to generate a much narrower estimate and its uncertainty. The researchers estimate that between 230 and 440 billion more tonnes of CO2 from 2020 onwards can be emitted into the atmosphere and still provide a reasonable chance of limiting global warming to 1.5°C.

Results from a 2016 research cruise show ocean acidification has interfered with shell development of zooplankton that are a critical part of the marine food web.

Researchers describe future changes to the tropical rain belt with expected climate change. The changes will cause droughts in large sections of the globe, threatening biodiversity and food security.

A review of ten types of policy used to reduce carbon suggests that some costs fall on those less able to bear them - but it also shows these policies can form the bedrock of a 'green recovery' if specifically designed and used in tandem.

A group of more than 60 scientists have provided recommendations to improve the Indian Ocean Observing System (IndOOS), a basin-wide monitoring system to better understand the impacts of human-caused climate change in a region that has been warming faster than any other ocean.

Researchers have found that ocean acidification limits algal communities to a state of low diversity and complexity. Communities grown in waters rich in carbon dioxide (CO2) were dominated by turf algae, and had low biodiversity, ecological complexity and biomass. Communities grown under acidic conditions and then transferred to waters that weren't CO2-enriched increased their biodiversity and complexity, showing that they can recover if CO2 emissions are significantly reduced.

The strongest climate fluctuation on time scales of a few years is the so-called El Niño phenomenon, which originates in the Pacific. A similar circulation pattern exists in the Atlantic, which scientists have now studied in more detail. Their results contribute to a better understanding of this climate fluctuation and pose a challenge for prediction models.

Earth's global average surface temperature in 2020 tied with 2016 as the warmest year on record, according to an analysis by NASA.

Oxygen levels in the ancient oceans were surprisingly resilient to climate change, new research suggests.

Entomologists have seen a striking contraction of insect numbers and diversity. They are sharing new data suggesting that climate change is the culprit and they are coming up with a way to protect the survivors: a bioliteracy program that aims to educate Costa Rican residents about the diversity around them and empower them to conserve it. It's a model they hope catches on and spreads around the globe.

When the Thomas Fire raged through Ventura and Santa Barbara counties in December 2017, an earth science researcher was stunned by its severity. Burning for more than a month and scorching 440 square miles, the fire was then considered the worst in California's history.

Life above ground depends on the soil and its countless inhabitants. Yet, global strategies to protect biodiversity have so far paid little attention to this habitat. Researchers call for greater consideration of soils in international biodiversity strategies, far beyond agriculture. The researchers explain their plan for systematic recording to enable comprehensive policy advisory.

Bacteria are likely triggering greater melting on the Greenland ice sheet, possibly increasing the island's contribution to sea-level rise, according to scientists. That's because the microbes cause sunlight-absorbing sediment to clump together and accumulate in the meltwater streams, according to new study. The findings can be incorporated in climate models, leading to more accurate predictions of melting, scientists say.

Studying ancient food webs can help scientists reconstruct communities of species, many long extinct, and even use those insights to figure out how modern-day communities might change in the future. There's just one problem: only some species left enough of a trace for scientists to find eons later, leaving large gaps in the fossil record -- and researchers' ability to piece together the food webs from the past.

A new study introduces a classification called Resistance-Resilience-Transformation (RRT) that enables the assessment of whether and to what extent a management shift toward transformative action is occurring in conservation.

Investors who bet on tropical forest conservation and reforestation to solve global warming by storing carbon in wood face huge uncertainties because the science behind predicting carbon stocks is still shaky. Even the best Earth Systems Models fail to predict how carbon stored by tropical forests varies from place to place.

An international study of 107,000 children finds that higher temperatures are an equal or even greater contributor to child malnutrition than the traditional culprits of poverty, inadequate sanitation, and poor education. The 19-nation study is the largest investigation to date of the relationship between our changing climate and children's diet diversity. Of the six regions examined--in Asia, Africa, and Central and South America--five had significant reductions in diet diversity associated with higher temperatures.

There is a growing consensus among scientists as well as national and local governments representing hundreds of millions of people, that humanity faces a climate crisis that demands a crisis response. New research explores one possible mode of response: a massively funded program to deploy direct air capture (DAC) systems that remove carbon dioxide directly from the ambient air and sequester it safely underground.

A new study revealed that the record-warm sea surface temperature over the northwestern Pacific in August 2020 could not be expected to occur without human-induced climate changes. Such extremely warm condition is likely to become a new normal climate in August by the mid-21st century, needing the prompt implementation of adaptation measures for anthropogenic global warming.