Amazon tipping point

Satellite images taken over the past several decades show that more than 75 percent of the Amazon rainforest is losing resilience, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change. The vegetation is dryer and takes longer to recover after a disturbance. Even the most densely forested regions struggle to bounce back. 

Arctic warming fundamentals

It is apparent that the Arctic is warming more than two times faster than the global average. This phenomenon – known as “Arctic amplification” – is causing drastic changes in the Arctic and has also been linked to extreme weather events in the mid-latitudes of the northern hemisphere.

Syukuro Manabe

Late in 1966, in the United States Weather Bureau computer lab, a Japanese immigrant named Syukuro Manabe would be the first to quantify the relationship between carbon dioxide and the temperature of Earth’s atmosphere.

Melting sea ice linked to fire hazards

A new study finds that low Arctic sea ice levels during July to October have knock-on impacts in the atmosphere that push the jet stream northwards. This tends to bring hotter and drier conditions in the western US over the following autumn, resulting in more frequent and intense fires in the region.