• NASA Sees Fourteenth Eastern Pacific Ocean Potential Tropical Cyclone

    Potential tropical cyclone 14E of the Eastern Pacific Ocean hurricane season appeared to be coming together off the southwestern coast of Mexico. NASA’s Aqua satellite captured temperature data on the storm that is producing torrential rains over southwestern Mexico.

    Because of the large system’s proximity to land, it has spawned warnings and watches. A Hurricane Watch is in effect from Puerto Cortes to Los Barriles, Mexico. A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for Todos Santos to Los Barriles, and a Tropical Storm Watch is in effect from north of Los Barriles to San Evaristo, Mexico.

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  • NASA Shows How Harvey Saturated Areas in Texas

    NASA analyzed the soil moisture in southeastern Texas before and after Harvey made landfall and found the ground was already somewhat saturated. NASA-NOAA’s Suomi NPP Satellite provided a night-time look at Harvey after it moved into the Gulf of Mexico, and NOAA’s GOES East satellite provided a look at the storm after it made its final landfall near the Texas-Louisiana border on Aug. 30.

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  • Bahamian Songbirds Disappeared During Last Glacial-Interglacial Transition

    Two species of songbirds that once made a home in the Bahamas likely became extinct on the islands because of rising sea levels and a warmer, wetter climate, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Riverside and the University of Florida, Gainesville. The study, which was published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, presents a historical view of how climate change and the resulting habitat loss can affect Earth’s biodiversity.

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  • Climate Change Could Cause Fish to Shrink in Size

    In the coming decades, warming ocean temperatures could stunt the growth of fish by as much as 30 percent, according to a new study in the journal Global Change Biology.

    The main driver behind this decline in size is that warmer water contains less oxygen. As Nexus Media explains, fish are cold-blooded animals and therefore cannot regulate their own body temperatures. So as oceans heat up, a fish’s metabolism accelerates to cope with the rising temperatures and they need more oxygen to sustain their body functions. But fish gills do not grow at the same pace as the rest of their body, resulting in a decline of oxygen supply and in growth.

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  • Algae Fortifies Coral Reefs in Past and Present

    The Great Barrier Reef, and most other large reefs around the world, owe their bulk in large part to a type of red algae that grows on corals and strengthens them. New research led by Anna Weiss, a Ph.D. candidate at The University of Texas at Austin Jackson School of Geosciences, has found that ancient coral reefs were also bolstered by their bond with red algae, a finding that could help scientists better understand how reefs will respond to climate change.

    “Coral reefs as we know them today are a product of that long term coral-coralline algae relationship,” Weiss said. “So if we want to preserve our coral reefs, we need to pay attention to the health of coralline algae as well.”

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  • Caspian Sea evaporating as temperatures rise

    Earth’s largest inland body of water has been slowly evaporating for the past two decades due to rising temperatures associated with climate change, a new study finds.

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  • Potential Tropical Cyclone 10 Soaks Mid-Atlantic

    NOAA's GOES East satellite provided an image of Potential Tropical Cyclone 10 as it continued moving north along the U.S. East Coast.

    The system is still not a tropical cyclone and the chances for the system to become a tropical cyclone appear to be decreasing. Regardless, National Hurricane Center noted that tropical-storm-force winds and heavy rains are expected over portions of North Carolina later today, Aug. 29.

    A Tropical Storm Warning was in effect from north of Surf City to Duck, North Carolina and for the Albemarle Sound and Pamlico Sound.

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  • NASA Sees Tropical Storm Pakhar After Landfall

    Just after Tropical Storm Pakhar made landfall in southeastern China and NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite captured an image of the storm.

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  • Strength of global stratospheric circulation measured for first time

    When commercial airplanes break through the clouds to reach cruising altitude, they have typically arrived in the stratosphere, the second layer of Earth’s atmosphere. The air up there is dry and clear, and much calmer than the turbulent atmosphere we experience on the ground.

    And yet, for all its seeming tranquility, the stratosphere can be a powerful conveyor belt, pulling air up from the Earth’s equatorial region and pushing it back down toward the poles in a continuously circulating pattern. The strength of this circulation can significantly impact the amount of water vapor, chemicals, and ozone transported around the planet.

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  • Climate May Drive Forest-Eating Beetles North, Says Study

    Pines in Canada and Much of U.S. at Risk.

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