Physicists at the University of Rochester have combed through data from satellites and ocean buoys and found evidence that in the last 50 years, the net flow of heat into and out of the oceans has changed direction three times. These shifts in the balance of heat absorbed from the sun and radiated from the oceans correlate well with past anomalies that have been associated with abrupt shifts in the earth's climate, say the researchers. These anomalies include changes in normal storm intensities, unusual land temperatures, and a large drop in salmon populations along the western United States.

For many Americans who live on the Atlantic coast, Andrew, Ivan and Katrina are more than just names, they are reminders of the devastating impact of cyclonic activity in the region during hurricane season. If it seems like hurricane seasons have been more active in recent years, you're on to something. According to a paper published in the August 13 issue of Nature, the frequency and strength of these powerful storms has grown in recent decades.

Beneath northern India's irrigated fields of wheat, rice, and barley ... beneath its densely populated cities of Jaiphur and New Delhi, the groundwater has been disappearing. Halfway around the world, hydrologists, including Matt Rodell of NASA, have been hunting for it. Where is northern India's underground water supply going? According to Rodell and colleagues, it is being pumped and consumed by human activities principally to irrigate cropland faster than the aquifers can be replenished by natural processes. They based their conclusions published in the August 20 issue of Nature on observations from NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE).

New research shows that 21st century British woodlands are less distinctive than those of the early 20th century due to environmental change. Native woodland plants have re-organised over the last 70 years in response to increased soil fertility and loss of light related to increased canopy shading.

American and Canadian scientists are setting sail this summer to map the Arctic seafloor and gather data to help define the outer limits of the continental shelf. Each country may exercise sovereign rights over their extended continental shelf's natural resources of the seabed and subsoil. These rights and authorities include control over minerals, petroleum and sedentary organisms such as clams, crabs and coral.

A period of global warming from 53 million to 47 million years ago strongly influenced plants and animals, spurring a biodiversity boom in western North America, researchers from three research museums report in a paper published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

What do the Gulf of Mexico's "dead zone," global climate change, and acid rain have in common? They're all a result of human impacts to Earth's biology, chemistry and geology, and the natural cycles that involve all three. On August 4-5, 2009, scientists who study such cycles--biogeochemists--will convene at a special series of sessions at the Ecological Society of America (ESA)'s 94th annual meeting in Albuquerque, N.M. They will present results of research supported through various National Science Foundation (NSF) efforts, including coupled biogeochemical cycles (CBC) funding. CBC is an emerging scientific discipline that looks at how Earth's biogeochemical cycles interact.

NASA satellites do some really cool things, like take a sideways look at a slice of a tropical depression. That's what CloudSat did with Lana in the Central Pacific. As Lana passed south of the Hawaiian Islands this past weekend, its maximum sustained winds peaked around 65 knots (74 mph), making it a Category One hurricane for a brief period before it ran into adverse atmospheric conditions that weakened the storm quickly.

Past Earth Science and Climate Change News

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