New Atlas

Environment Audio available

Forests that live fast and die young may help speed up climate change

Michael Irving May 15, 2019

New research led by the University of Cambridge has found that forests may not be as useful a carbon sink as we thought. The team found that a warming climate makes trees grow faster and die younger, releasing their captured carbon back into the air sooner.

Researchers examined samples taken from trees in the Spanish Pyrenees and found that faster-growing trees tend ...

Environment

Stalled waves in the jet stream blamed for last year's extreme weather events

Michael Irving April 30, 2019

The summer of 2018 was marked by extreme weather events like droughts and floods. A new study has pinned the blame on stalled giant waves in the jet stream, and unfortunately they’re expected to only get worse with the changing climate.

Climate researchers have blamed stalled giant waves in the jet stream for some of last year's ...

Environment Audio available

Glaciers have lost 9 trillion tonnes of ice since 1961, says satellite study

Michael Irving April 8, 2019

A comprehensive study has combined field observations and satellite data to track glacial ice loss. The team found that between 1961 and 2016, glaciers globally lost a total of over 9 trillion tonnes of ice, contributing significantly to sea level rise.

Glaciers in Northeast India, captured on December 6, 2018

Environment Audio available

Can tropical tectonic activity trigger ice ages?

Michael Irving March 14, 2019

Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is a major driver of shifts in the Earth’s climate, and in the past too little CO2 has been associated with triggering ice ages. Now a team of scientists has found a surprising new mechanism that could lead to ice ages: Tropical tectonic activity.

Tropical tectonic activity, such as that occurring in Indonesia today, may have triggered ice ages in ...

Environment

2018 continued worrying warming trend according to multiple climate reports

Michael Irving February 6, 2019

Continuing a long-term upward trend, several climate reports released today have concluded that 2018 was among the hottest years on record. In independent analyses, NASA, NOAA and WMO have all found the past year to be dotted with broken records.

This map shows the differences in average temperatures, with yellow, orange and red indicating the largest ...

Science Audio available

Fossil fats reveal how complex life kicked off after Snowball Earth phase

Michael Irving January 31, 2019

About 700 million years ago, basically the entire planet iced over in a period often called “Snowball Earth.” Now researchers have found fossil fats that help fill in the story of how life bounced back after this global cataclysm, and how we humans might owe our very existence to them.

Fossil fats have shown how complex life arose after Earth's "snowball" phase

Environment Audio available

Giant cavity found eating away at Antarctic glacier from underneath

Michael Irving January 30, 2019

NASA’s ongoing Operation IceBridge has found a gigantic cavity underneath Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica, which shows that the area has suffered even more drastic ice loss in recent years than previously thought – and it’s accelerating.

Energy Audio available

Carbon capture system turns CO2 into electricity and hydrogen fuel

Michael Irving January 21, 2019

Inspired by the ocean’s role as a natural carbon sink, researchers at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) and Georgia Tech have developed a new system that absorbs CO2 and produces electricity and useable hydrogen fuel.

Scientists have developed a new device that can absorb CO2 and produce electricity and hydrogen fuel

Environment Audio available

State of the Climate report paints 2018 as a devastating, record-breaking year

Michael Irving November 29, 2018

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has released a Statement on the State of the Climate in 2018. Temperature records were shattered, sea ice shrank and extreme weather events devastated every continent in one of the hottest years on record.

According to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization, 2018 was one of the hottest ...

Environment

Extreme heat events on the rise in US and Canada, as cold incidents decline

Anthony Wood November 27, 2018

A new study has revealed that extreme heat events are happening more often across the US and Canada, while extreme cold events are on the decline. The research could one day be used to provide an early warning for such weather events.

Animals, humans and the environment are all damaged by extreme heat events