Muir Glacier and Inlet (1895) In the photo above, the west shoreline of Muir Inlet in Alaska's Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve is shown as it appeared in 1895. Notice the lack of vegetation on the slopes of the mountains, and the glacier that stands more than 300 feet high. See the glacier as it looked in 2005 on the next page. (USGS/Bruce Molnia) Photographing Alaska's stunning landscapes has been a passion of Bruce Molnia's since the first time...

Land and ocean temperature departures (in degrees Celsius) in July 2014, relative to 1981-2010 average temperature. (NOAA/NCDC) Last month was the hottest June in more than 130 years of recorded weather history, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Monday in its monthly state of the climate report, surpassing the previous record high for the month set in 1998. June 2014 also marked the third straight month breaking or tying record high global temperatures for the given month. (RECAPS: May...

It’s the best kind of treasure hunt: A pirate’s bounty that washes up piecemeal on the seashore, waiting for lucky beachcombers to stumble upon colorful gems in the sand. Except that this loot is made up not of gold doubloons, but entirely of familiar bits of rainbow plastic. For 17 years, Lego pieces have been washing up on the shores of Cornwall, England, mostly in nautical themes: There are spear guns, pirate-style cutlass swords, flippers, pieces of scuba gear and...

Americans drive more than 9,300 miles per year, more than citizens in any other major world economy, according to the report by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. A new report says the U.S. scored 13th in global energy efficiency ranking, or near the bottom of the world's 16 largest economies. Germany is the global leader in energy efficiency, and the U.S., with its ingrained car culture, is among the least energy efficient of the world’s largest economies. That’s...

Lake Mead in Historic Drought A buoy warning 'no boats' stands on dirt at the abandoned Echo Bay Marina on July 13 in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Nevada. The marina closed last year after no businesses wanted to operate it, in part due to falling water levels according to the National Park Service. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) Earlier this month, the water in Nevada's Lake Mead National Recreation Area dropped to levels it hasn't reached since all...

Here in the United States, a larger slice of the population believes that climate change is a natural phenomenon unrelated to human activities than any other country in the world, according to the results of a new poll by the British survey group Ipsos Mori. That was one of a set of eight findings on attitudes toward climate change and the environment in the group's Global Trends Survey, which was conducted in September and October 2013 and included feedback from...

Actor Josh Gad, who plays snowman Olaf in "Frozen," talks to Al Roker about his new movie "Wish I Was Here." He and Al also talk about the hit movie "Frozen," and what Gad believes is an underlying theme in the movie that some people may have missed —even if your kids made you watch it a million times. You can watch "Wake Up With Al" weekday mornings on The Weather Channel from 5:30 a.m. to 7 a.m. ET. MORE...

In Chicago's low-income neighborhoods, flooding has become more frequent in recent years as torrential rains cause the city's aging sewers to back up and overflow into homes more often. The Washington Post looks into the case of one homeowner on Chicago's South Side whose home flooded repeatedly over several years, but recently experienced something she likened to a scene from "The Amityville Horror." The garage of a home on the banks of the Des Plaines River stands half-way deep in...

Thanks in part to all of the stunning imagery coming out of the drought-plagued West, it's easy to see the rapid decline of the region's water supply in motion. But according to a new study from scientists at NASA and the University of California, Irvine, the loss of water you can't see is actually happening at a much more rapid and dire pace than that of the water you can see, leading scientists to declare that the West's water supply...

A river in eastern China turned blood red overnight and investigators aren't completely sure why. Residents living inWenzhou, a commercial city in the Zhejiang Province, saw the riverchange to crimsonThursday morning, China Radio International reports. People told CRI the river was flowing normally at 4 a.m. butrapidly turned a scary shade of red at about 6 a.m.A villager who has lived there his entire life said he'd never seen the river turn red before. A boat moves along the crimson...

Unless there are big changes in the ways land is used and developed in the southeastern U.S., by 2060 a massive corridor of traffic-choked urban sprawl will stretch from central North Carolina all the way to Atlanta and possibly even as far west as Birmingham, a new study says. Published July 23 in the scientific journal PLOS ONE by North Carolina State University and the U.S. Department of Interior's Southeast Climate Science Center, the report says urban areas in the...

Arctic Sea Ice Shrinks To New Low The extent of Arctic sea ice on Aug. 26, 2012, the day the sea ice dipped to its smallest extent ever recorded in more than three decades of satellite measurements, according to scientists from NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center) The extent of sea ice covering the Arctic Ocean at the end of the summer season likely won’t surpass the record low of 2012, but...