For at least one lake in the Arctic, methane has an unusual source: groundwater from seasonal thaw. This research, out of the University of California Santa Cruz, could mean more of the potent greenhouse gas emitted into the atmosphere. The pattern is circular, UC Santa Cruz scientist Adina Paytan told weather.com.Climate change is warming up the Arctic, which is causing more of the top blanket of frozen soil (called the “active layer” of permafrost) to thaw and more methane to...

Not only is climate changing faster than it has in the past 1,000 years, but the rate of temperature change is also starting to speed up, with an average rate of change of 0.2 to 0.6 degrees Celsius every decade. That’s according to a study from the Department of Energy’s (PNNL). “We’re entering into a new phase of the climate,” lead researcher Steve Smith told weather.com. Smith and PNNL colleagues looked at more than two dozen climate models, comparing 40-year...

Florida isn't alone in directing state agencies not to use the phrase "climate change." North Carolina and Pennsylvania took similar measures in 2012. The North Carolina state legislature ruled that officials would not be allowed to use the newest in technology , and Pennsylvania ordered the state's (DCNR) to remove the term "climate change" from its website. The administration of Pennsylvania's Gov. Tom Corbett asked DCRN employees to remove the term, according to Adrian Stouffer, a former marketing manager for...

While balmy hints of spring melt piles of snow in the eastern U.S., the impending end of winter marks peak season for Arctic sea ice. But this year, that winter maximum area is currently on track to hit a record low since satellite records began in 1979. What that low-ice mark means for the spring and summer melting seasons is unclear, but the milestone would still be notable in the global warming-fueled cycle of Arctic sea ice decline. “The fact...

Researchers from Kiel University and the University of Southampton projected populations of coastal cities. They found that more than a billion people could live in these low-lying areas by 2060. Click through to see the countries with populations most exposed to sea-level rise. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) People around the world are heading for the shores, but not for a day at the beach. By the year 2060, a billion could live along the coasts, at or below elevations of 10...

This map shows how much temperatures over Russia varied from normal between July 20-17, 2010, with redder colors showing much warmer than normal colors and blue cooler than normal. The strong concentration of deep red over eastern Russia reflects the weeks-long heat wave that gripped the region that summer. (NASA) Before the summer of 2010, Moscow had never recorded a triple-digit temperature, with records going back to 1879. But during a that June and July, the city’s temperatures soared ,...

The year 2014 was the warmest across the globe in 134 years of records, according to a report released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Friday. NOAA said the average temperature across land and ocean surfaces in 2014 was 1.24 degrees Fahrenheit (0.69 degrees Celsius) above the 20th-century average, topping the previous warmest years of 2010 and 2005. Global temperature records kept by NOAA date to 1880. Blended land and sea surface temperature percentiles from January to December 2014....

You’ve probably heard the phrases El Niño and La Niña, likely in the context of weather patterns and your local forecast. What are they, exactly? “In the Pacific Ocean, around about the equator, there is either an upwelling of cold water, which goes westward, or there’s warm water. The warm water condition is called El Niño and the cold water condition is called La Niña,” John Allen, a scientist at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society, explained to...

An image of Villarrica, a volcano in Chile, before it erupted on March 3, 2015. (NASA/Jeffrey Johnson) Villarrica, one of Chile's most active volcanoes, looks a little different after a violent eruption on March 3, 2015. NASA photographs taken only days prior to the eruption show a beautiful slope covered in white. The unsullied glaciers appear in both a satellite image and an image taken on the ground. Both photographs were taken on February 22, 2015. However, the same photographs...

Climate change may leave a bitter taste in your mouth. A recent study by Australian scientists warns that rising temperatures will affect food production and leave a variety of foods tasteless. Fruits, grains, seafood and vegetables will all be vulnerable to the according to Appetite for Change, a new study conducted by David Karoly and Richard Eckard of the University of Melbourne. “It’s when you hear that the toast and raspberry jam you have for breakfast, for example, might not...

Thinkstock/Comstock Our toothpaste and face scrubs may be doing a number on corals. The tiny microbeads, or exfoliants, found in several common household products are of Great Barrier Reef corals, according to new research from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies in Australia. "Corals are non-selective feeders, and our results show that they can consume microplastics when the plastics are present in seawater," Dr. Mia Hoogenboom, a chief investigator with ARC said in a news release. (MORE:...

The winter of 2014-15 was the warmest on record worldwide, released by the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on Wednesday. Departure from average temperature December-February. Red areas were above average and blue areas were below average. NOAA says that December through February – for meteorological record-keeping purposes, winter is defined as those three months in the Northern Hemisphere – was 1.42 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th-century average for all land and ocean areas. This tops the previous warmest winter of...

Hanukkah began Tuesday, Dec. 16, and runs for eight nights. In honor of the Festival of Lights, we decided to look at eight beautiful light shows from the natural world (OK, the solar plant technically isn’t “natural,” but its aim is to generate electricity from the sun, so we think it counts). Here’s a little bit about each of these natural wonders: 1. The Aurora BorealisWhen the yellows, purples, greens and blues of the Northern Lights splash across the sky,...