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Climate Change

It's real. It's happening. It's accelerating. And it's our fault. Human activity — particularly the production of greenhouse gasses from fossil fuel emissions — is reshaping our planet, effecting rapid environmental change at a rate never seen before. Global temperature averages are creeping upward, seas are warming, rising and becoming more acidic, and extreme weather events such as droughts, wildfires, floods and powerful storms are more commonplace. Here's where you'll find the latest on the effects of climate change, and the measures that scientists, world leaders and innovators are taking to reduce our harmful impact on the planet and mitigate the damage already done.

Related Topics: Extinction, Global Warming, Deforestation, Heat Wave, Hurricanes

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Summer in Siberia's Sakha Republic

Siberian town records 100 degree F day — the hottest in Arctic history

By Brandon Specktor

The Siberian town of Verkhoyansk just recorded a 100-degree Fahrenheit day — the hottest in Arctic history.

Night lights in Wuhan, China, show the difference in human activity between late January and early February 2020, when the COVID-19 coronavirus spread through the city.

Global carbon emissions dropped an unprecedented 17% during the coronavirus lockdown — and it changes nothing

By Brandon Specktor

Scientists estimate that global daily carbon dioxide emissions dropped by as much 17% during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic.

NASA astronaut Christina Koch shared this view of Hurricane Dorian from the International Space Station on Sept. 2, 2019.

Hurricanes really are getting stronger, just like climate models predicted

By Rafi Letzter

The authors of a new paper studied 4,000 tropical cyclones spanning 39 years, and showed that major hurricanes are coming more frequently as Earth cooks.

storm clouds over ocean

Sometimes, cool air rises. Here's what that means for tropical climates.

By Nicoletta Lanese

Sometimes, cool air rises and warm air sinks — and that helps the tropics cool off.

Mitten found at Lendbreen, made from different pieces of woven fabric. Radiocarbon-dated to the ninth century.

Viking 'treasure' of rare artifacts revealed on a long-lost mountain trail

By Mindy Weisberger

Melting ice revealed a long-lost trail in Norway that was strewn with objects dating to the Viking Age.

This shows the amount of ice gained or lost by Antarctica between 2003 and 2019. Dark reds and purples show large average rates of ice loss near the coasts, while blues show smaller rates of ice gain in the interior.

New satellite maps show dire state of ice melt in Antarctica and Greenland

By Brandon Specktor

New satellite maps show 16 years of ice loss in Antarctica and Greenland.

A satellite view of iceberg A-68

The world's largest iceberg may have just begun its death march

By Brandon Specktor

Iceberg A-68 is large enough to hold New York City five times over — and it may finally be cracking.

This illustration shows a vertically exaggerated image of the ground under Denman Glacier in East Antarctica, including a deep trough (blue area in the center) beneath its eastern flank.

Antarctica's Denman Glacier is sinking into the world's deepest canyon

By Brandon Specktor

Antarctica's Denman Glacier is falling into the world's largest land canyon.

A massive iceberg floating on its side in Greenland

Ice loss in Antarctica and Greenland increased sixfold in the last 30 years

By Brandon Specktor

Thirty years of satellite data shows ice loss in Antarctica and Iceland has increased by sixfold since the 1990s, putting us on the 'worst case' climate scenario.

Coral blooming in the abyssal depths of Australia's southern coast

'Gardens and graveyards' of coral discovered in hidden canyons off Australia's coast

By Brandon Specktor

Researchers explored three canyons thousands of feet below the water in Southern Australia, revealing both thriving gardens of coral and ashen fossil graveyards.

The rocky coast of Sif Island peeks out under a mound of Antarctic ice.

Melting ice in Antarctica reveals new uncharted island

By Brandon Specktor

Researchers discovered an uncharted island beneath melting Antarctic ice. Its rocky underbelly could hold clues to the continent's response to climate change.

Streaks of red algae coat the Antarctic ice in "blood snow."

Spooky 'blood snow' invades Antarctic island

By Brandon Specktor

Blood-red algae is blooming in Antarctica, leading to plains of creepy 'watermelon snow' across Galindez Island.

Earth on March 29, 2017

What is global warming?

By Stephanie Pappas

Global warming is the gradual heating of Earth's surface, oceans and atmosphere.

Planet Earth with sunrise and flare glint in background.

World's richest person, Jeff Bezos gives $10 billion to fight climate change

By Mike Wall

The world's richest man, Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, is starting an organization devoted to battling climate change — and he's putting in $10 billion of his own money to get it off the ground.

Ancient microbial mounds called stromatolites could be a model for how coastal cities survive rising seas in this era of rapid climate change, according to experimental philosopher Jonathon Keats.

How ancient microbes could help save coastal cities from rising seas

By Mike Wall

Trees struggle to remain upright in a lake formed by abrupt permafrost thaw.

Arctic sinkholes open in a flash after permafrost melt

By Mindy Weisberger

Arctic permafrost is thawing, and some zones are melting so quickly that the new landscape becomes a soggy marsh riddled with sinkholes.

Icefin, an underwater robot, took a wild journey underneath a melting glacier in Antarctica.

Surprisingly warm water found on underside of Antarctica's 'Doomsday Glacier'

By Laura Geggel

For the first time, an underwater robot visited the bottom of Antarctica's Thwaites Glacier.

A Dungeness crab sits on the beach.

Acid in the Pacific Ocean is literally eating away crabs' shells

By Brandon Specktor

Researchers found that baby Dungeness crabs living in the most acidic coastal waters are smaller, weaker and at risk of losing their shells.

The glare of an exploded nuclear bomb rises over a city.

Doomsday Clock is now 100 seconds from midnight

By Mindy Weisberger

A hypothetical timepiece called the Doomsday Clock measures our nearness to Armageddon — by nuclear weapons, climate change and other global threats.

A graphic produced by NASA shows how 2019 temperatures compare with historical averages.

2019 Was the Second Hottest Year on Record, NASA Says

By Meghan Bartels

It's the award no one wanted to win: 2019 was the second hottest year on record, government scientists confirmed yesterday (Jan. 15).