Climatology

Top Nine Ocean Stories That Had Us Talking in 2015

From fossil whales to adorable octopuses, here are some of the marine headliners that caught our attention this year

An artist's concept of NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission at Mars.

The Sun Stole Part of Mars' Atmosphere, and NASA Was Watching

Observations from the MAVEN spacecraft should help scientists figure out if and when Mars had the right conditions for life

Cumulus clouds don't literally have silver linings, but their edges are sharper than we thought.

Holograms Show That Puffy Clouds Have Sharp Edges

A laser-based imaging technique let scientists see what happens to water droplets at the borders of cumulus clouds

Dancing with the flames.

What the Evolution of Fire Can Teach Us About Climate Change

This Generation Anthropocene podcast looks at the history of fire and the ways the world changed once humans harnessed its power

Waves kicked up by Hurricane Dora pound a beachfront hotel in St. Augustine, Florida, in 1964.

Tampa and Dubai May Be Due for Extreme "Grey Swan" Hurricanes

A new model combines historical data and physical modeling to find the risks of catastrophic storms in unexpected places

Ash and aerosols pour out of the erupting Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland in 2010.

Sixth-Century Misery Tied to Not One, But Two, Volcanic Eruptions

The ancient event is just one among hundreds of times volcanoes have affected climate over the past 2,500 years

Earth's Oxygen Levels Can Affect Its Climate

Models of past eras show that oxygen can influence global temperature and humidity as its concentration changes

The NOAA ship R/V Roger Revelle collects climate data in the Antarctic in 2008.

There Is No Global Warming Hiatus After All

Improved data and better analysis methods find no slowdown in the pace of global temperature rise, NOAA scientists report

An astronaut snapped this picture of Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest tropical cyclones ever recorded, in November 2013.

Warmer Waters Are Making Pacific Typhoons Stronger

Decades of storm data show that tropical cyclones in the Pacific are getting more intense as ocean temperatures rise

Scientists Discover Sudden Melting in the Antarctic

Warmer waters are eating away at protective ice shelves, letting glaciers flow into the sea

A worker puts finishing paint touches on the Amazon Tall Tower Observatory in January

This New Tower Gives Scientists a Bird's Eye View of the Amazon

It pairs with a similar tower in Siberia to observe changes in the Earth's atmosphere

Data from satellites and sensors show the Pacific Ocean conditions in March 2015, including an increase in warm waters (shown in red). The warming has strengthened since then, prompting agencies to declare 2015 an El Niño year.

El Niño Is Here, But It Can’t Help Parched California (For Now)

Three national agencies have confirmed that the natural phenomenon has arrived, but not in time to bring much-needed rains in the West

Ice cores in Colorado are stored in a freezer at -33F. The core pictured here is from Greenland.

Ice Scientists of the Future Will Study Glaciers That No Longer Exist

Glaciologists are stocking up on ice cores to ensure a future for their field

The 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia left a huge crater, along with a sometimes unexpected legacy.

200 Years After Tambora, Some Unusual Effects Linger

Frankenstein, famine poetry, polar exploration—the "year without a summer" was just the beginning

Windswept trees seem to loom over a beach on the remote island of Tarawa in Kiribati. Scientists have found that coral reefs near Tarawa record changes in Pacific trade winds.

Corals Show How Pacific Trade Winds Guide Global Temperatures

The world has been in a global warming hiatus, but that will change when the winds once again weaken

A fossilized leaf from the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum sits in the Wyoming snow.

Ancient Earth Warmed Dramatically After a One-Two Carbon Punch

A period of intense warming 55 million years ago is an even better case study for modern climate change than previously suspected

Lose Ice in Alaska, See Temperatures Spike By 7°C

This puts the goal of keeping temperature rises below 2°C to shame

Deforestation in Brazil

The Amazon Rainforest Disappeared Way More Quickly This Year

Widespread deforestation is even worse than you think

This F3 twister in Kansas was part of a mini-outbreak of tornadoes in 2004.

Tornadoes Are Now Ganging Up in the United States

Twisters are not increasing in numbers but they are clustering more often, a bizarre pattern that has meteorologists stumped

From left to right, panelists Eric Hollinger, Rachel Kyte, Cori Wegener and Melissa Songer discuss ideas for living in the Anthropocene.

To Live in the Anthropocene, People Need Grounded Hope

A Smithsonian symposium about human impacts on Earth looked past warnings of global doom to discuss the necessary balance of achievable solutions

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