Global Warming

Former U.S. ambassador to Canada David Jacobson visits Alert on a much cooler day in 2010.

The World's Northernmost Permanent Settlement Set a Record High Temperature

The military installation of Alert on Ellesmere Island, 600 miles from the North Pole, hit 69.8 degrees Fahrenheit last week

Olafur Eliasson, "The Cubic Structural Evolution Project," 2004

Consider the Nature of Perception at Olafur Eliasson's New Show

Tate Modern retrospective features some 40 works pulled from the artist's decades-long career

This spring, temperatures in Alaska and northern Canada have been significantly higher than usual. Red indicates areas warmer than average while blue indicates colder than average. The darker the red, or blue, the greater the deviation from average.

Record-Breaking Heat in Alaska Wreaks Havoc on Communities and Ecosystems

Abnormally high temperatures have led to unsafe travel conditions, uncertain ecological futures and even multiple deaths

Scientists have been tracking Mauna Loa's carbon dioxide levels since 1958

Carbon Dioxide Levels Reach Highest Point in Human History

Last Friday, carbon concentrations at Hawaii’s Mauna Loa Observatory topped 415 ppm

The Space Station Just Got a New Cutting-Edge Carbon Mapper

The OCO-3 instrument will watch Earth's carbon levels change throughout the day

A starfish floating on the coral reef, Dominican Republic.

One Million Species at Risk of Extinction, Threatening Human Communities Around the World, U.N. Report Warns

A global assessment compiled by hundreds of scientists found that humans are inflicting staggering damage on the world’s biodiversity

Ocean-Dwelling Species Are Disappearing Twice as Quickly as Land Animals

Researchers point toward marine creatures' inability to adapt to changing water temperatures, lack of adequate shelter

Some three to five million years ago, the icy environs of Antarctica were replaced by verdant swaths of green

CO2 Levels Are as High as They Were Three Million Years Ago

The last time Earth had this much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, trees were growing at the South Pole

A Network of Lakes Lies Under East Antarctica's Biggest Glacier

The water underneath the Totten Glacier may force researchers to recalculate how quickly climate change may melt the massive ice sheet

Honey gathered from urban beehives offers a surprisingly accurate measure of surrounding communities’ air quality

How Urban Beehives Can Help Researchers Detect Air Pollution

Trace elements found in honey may be able to lead researchers straight to the source of environmental contamination

A composite color image of the Western Hemisphere captured by NOAA's GOES-16 satellite from 22,300 miles above the surface, January 15, 2017.

The Risks, Rewards and Possible Ramifications of Geoengineering Earth’s Climate

Injecting aerosols into the stratosphere could help cool the planet, but scientists have yet to study exactly how such solar geoengineering would work

Heat waves pose a significant threat to coral reefs, kelp forests and seagrass beds

Ocean Heat Waves Are Threatening Marine Life, Biodiversity

Over the past three decades, Earth’s number of annual ocean heat wave days rose by more than 50 percent

Could Climate Change Make These Clouds Go Extinct?

New modeling shows that 1,200 ppm of CO2 disrupts stratocumulus cloud formation, which could lead to 14 degrees Fahrenheit of warming

As glaciers melt, the Himalayan region will face extreme weather ranging from floods to drought and unpredictable monsoon rains

The Himalayas Could Lose Two-Thirds of Its Glaciers by 2100

Even if the most ambitious global climate targets are met, the Asian mountain range is poised to lose at least one-third of its glaciers

Two new studies document the myriad of threats facing Earth's 124 wild coffee species

More Than Half of All Coffee Species Are at Risk of Extinction

The popular Arabica bean, used in such rich blends as Java, is amongst the species threatened by climate change, deforestation

East Antarctica, despite lagging behind West Antarctica, is still losing ice to the tune of some 50 billion tons per year

Antarctica’s Ice Loss Has Reached 250 Billion Tons Per Year

The continent's annual ice loss has sextupled since 1979, jumping from 40 billion tons to 250 billion tons in 2017

The Smithsonian's Mary Hagedorn and hundreds of colleagues collaborated on the project, which used cryopreserved elkhorn coral sperm to fertilize live eggs to create larvae.

To Help Corals Fight Back, Scientists Are Breeding Populations Separated by Hundreds of Miles

A new study demonstrates that assisted reproduction using cryopreserved sperm leads to offspring that might be more resilient in the face of climate change

Arctic Ice Is Retreating and Reindeer Are Going With It

Herds in Canada, the U.S. and Russia have dropped by over half in 20 years—and some may not recover

The artist installed 24 blocks of Greelandic ice outside of London's Tate Modern

Straight From a Greenland Fjord, London Installation Sends Dire Message on Climate Change

Olafur Eliasson’s ‘Ice Watch’ aims to bring viewers into direct confrontation with the devastation wrought by global warming

The so-called "Great Dying" depleted ocean oxygen levels, effectively suffocating nearly all of the planet's marine life

How Did the ‘Great Dying’ Kill 96 Percent of Earth’s Ocean-Dwelling Creatures?

Researchers say the prehistoric mass extinction event could mirror contemporary—and future—devastation sparked by global warming

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