Articles 2020

La Maison Blanche s’en est pris jeudi 24 juillet aux créateurs de la série satirique après un épisode moquant ouvertement le Président. La référence répétée à ses attributs masculins a probablement été la blague de trop.

For decades, the surface of the polar Southern Ocean (south of 50°S) has been freshening—an expected response to a warming climate. This freshening enhanced upper-ocean stratification, reducing the upward transport of subsurface heat and possibly contributing to sea ice expansion. It also limited the formation of open-ocean polynyas. Using satellite observations, we reveal a marked increase in surface salinity across the circumpolar Southern Ocean since 2015. This shift has weakened upper-ocean stratification, coinciding with a dramatic decline in Antarctic sea ice coverage. Additionally, rising salinity facilitated the reemergence of the Maud Rise polynya in the Weddell Sea, a phenomenon last observed in the mid-1970s.

Satellite data processing algorithms developed by ICM-CSIC have played a crucial role in detecting this significant shift in the Southern Hemisphere, which could accelerate the effects of climate change.

Small particulate matter (PM2.5) in air pollution raises the risks of respiratory problems, cardiovascular disease, and even cognitive decline. Heat waves, which are occurring more often with climate change, can cause heatstroke and exacerbate conditions such as asthma and diabetes. When heat and pollution coincide, they can create a deadly combination.

Extreme heat affecting nearly 23m people across US south-west and pushing Texas’s electrical grid to the limit.

The floods displaced more than 80,000 people, led to over 150,000 being injured and, on the 29th of May, to 169 fatalities with 44 people still missing (Governo do Estado de Rio Grande do Sul, 2024). Essential services were also disrupted, leaving 418,200 households without electricity and over a million consumer units without water. Dozens of municipalities lost telephone and internet services.

Winter temperatures have neared 40 degrees Celsius in parts of South America, which is up to 20C higher than normal for this time of year and the equivalent of Sydney hitting 35C in the first week of August.

It’s the middle of winter in South America, but that hasn’t kept the heat away in Chile, Argentina and surrounding locations. Multiple spells of oddly hot weather have roasted the region in recent weeks. The latest spell early this week has become the most intense, pushing the mercury above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, while setting an August record for Chile.

Avian flu has decimated the marine creatures on the country’s Pacific coastline and scientists fear it could be jumping from mammal to mammal

This Southern Ocean warming and its associated impacts are effectively irreversible on human time scales, because it takes millennia for heat trapped deep in the ocean to be released back into the atmosphere. This means changes happening now will be felt for generations to come – and those changes are only set to get worse, unless we can stop carbon dioxide emissions and achieve net zero.

In the past 50 years, the oceans have absorbed more than 90% of the excess heat caused by our carbon dioxide emissions, with one ocean absorbing the vast majority.

After all, Western economies – and their economic growth – depend utterly on labour and resources from the South...

Models indicate that there could be between 25 and 30 extreme events a year by mid-century

The melt is among the earliest in the last 30 years

Many are still missing after this month’s floods. Extreme weather is becoming more frequent, and it can be devastating

Lithium extraction fields in South America have been captured by an aerial photographer in stunning high definition. But while the images may be breathtaking to look at, they represent the dark side of our swiftly electrifying world.

On Sunday, Kodiak Island in southern Alaska hit 67 degrees. That's warmer than it was in Southern California that same day. This set a record for the warmest December day in Alaska, according to the National Weather Service in Anchorage. Statewide temperature records in Alaska date back to 1953.

Intensive agriculture’s insatiable thirst for water is turning wetland to wasteland, draining rivers and polluting groundwater

Global weather is constantly in motion. The Southern Hemisphere is currently in Winter, and strong weather patterns will start a warming event in its Stratosphere. These events are rare, but powerful, having historically been strong enough to affect the entire globe.

A fierce cold snap brought rare snow, icy rain, and strong winds to parts of southern Brazil on July 29 and 30, 2021. The event comes after several waves of destructive frost since mid-June.