Drier Atmosphere Slows Global Warming

Carbon dioxide emissions take biggest jump on record

(NEWSER) - Carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases continued to build in the atmosphere last year, a federal report finds: Between 2009 and 2010, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s yearly index of greenhouse gases—which measures said gases' combined heating effect—jumped 1.5%, to 1.29. It has climbed 29% since 1990, the Los Angeles Times reports. That number isn't the equivalent to a change in our temperature in degrees, but as it rises, so too does our warming potential, says a NOAA director. More»

Texas also set its own record for hottest July

(AP) - Sweltering may have reached a new record last month, as Oklahoma racked up the country's highest monthly average temperature ever. That's the highest average temperature, for any month, for any state, associate Oklahoma state climatologist Gary McManus said. According to automated weather recording instruments, the state's average for July was 89.1 degrees. That tops an average of 88.1 set in July 1954, McManus said. More»

(NEWSER) - Snorkelers and scuba divers aren’t the worst threat to the embattled coral reefs of the world—climate change, commercial fishing, and pollution take top honors—but the casual tourist can lessen, and even mitigate, the damage he or she causes, Slate reports. Of course, snorkelers shouldn’t purposefully snap off pieces of the majestic underwater life forms. But carelessly dragging equipment across coral, or walking on it, while looking for a better view is equally destructive. More»

Creatures' movements may carry carbon dioxide to ocean depths

(NEWSER) - Jellyfish may be secretly affecting the climate of the oceans: Their movements appear to help change the balance of carbon in the atmosphere, NPR reports. Many jellyfish hide from predators deep underwater during the day and head to the surface at night for a snack, says an oceanographer. When they return, a study in Nature says, they may be carrying carbon dioxide dissolved in surface water down with them. More»

Expert warns that CO2 has triggered 1,000 years of change

(NEWSER) - The damage from global warming will continue for centuries even if emissions could possibly be brought under control immediately, warns one of the world's leading climate experts. The heat and carbon dioxide being soaked up by the world's oceans now will be released regardless of what's done to mitigate the disaster, causing "an irreversible change that will last for more than a thousand years," a scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tells NPR. More»