Is Global Warming Fueling Forest Fires?

Climate models run by scientists have shown a clear drying trend in the subtropics, which includes the American Southwest, Mexico, the Mediterranean, Australia and parts of Asia, over the course of this century.

"If they get drier, the likelihood for fires will be higher," Brasseur said.

The hot, dry conditions that dominated the Southwest this summer were a small taste of what could become the prevailing conditions in the future, and they helped provide the fuel for the fires to start.

"When you have a hot summer and a dry summer, boom, you have a lot of fires," Brasseur told LiveScience.

Satellite Video Shows Struggling Seas

The ocean's cerulean, aquamarine and emerald hues offer more than artistic inspiration—they reveal how sea biology is struggling with climate change

NASA's Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) has constantly measured ocean color as an indicator of sea life productivity since the satellite reached orbit in 1997. Combined with ocean temperature data, the observations suggest climate change is playing a big role in negatively altering ocean ecosystems.

A new video made from the decade of data illustrates how blooms of phytoplankton, which form the base of the oceanic food chain, are gradually thinning. In the video, purples and blues indicate low concentrations of chlorophyll, which plants and phytoplankton use to gather light energy, whereas yellows, oranges and reds show the highest concentrations.

La Nina anomaly behind Australian drought: UN weather agency

GENEVA (AFP) - A long-running drought in Australia is linked to an unprecedented climate pattern which has taken hold in the Pacific basin and Indian Ocean, the UN weather agency said Wednesday.

Northern pebbles new pawns in Arctic chess game

It was exposed mainly by shifting pack ice.

As Greenland is under Denmark's administration, this scrap of land just 40 meters long could extend Danish territory further north and strengthen Copenhagen's claim on the pole.

Its discovery comes as countries around the Arctic Ocean -- the United States, Russia, Canada, Denmark, Norway and Iceland -- are rushing to stake out the Polar Basin's seabed, fishing rights and maritime routes.

WNC springs, wells failing Drought seeps further into daily lives

Extreme drought gripping the Southeast has slowed springs to a trickle and left wells dry across Western North Carolina.

In two far western counties, at least 60 private springs and shallow wells have stopped flowing, forcing people to buy water or gather it from creeks and community springs. In Madison County, some springs do little more than drip.

Parched Atlanta may seek WNC water

Atlanta – With the South in the grip of an epic drought and its largest city holding less than a 90-day supply of water, officials are scrambling to deal with the worst-case scenario: What if Atlanta’s faucets really do go dry?

One suggested solution is piping in additional sources of water, including the Tennessee River, a withdrawal that could worsen already low lake levels in Western North Carolina.

California calls new fire alert as winds forecast

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California's weary firefighters were placed on a new fire alert on Wednesday after weather forecasters warned of hot dry winds this weekend similar to those that sparked 22 deadly blazes last week.

Melting Glacier Reveals Ancient Tree Stumps

Melting glaciers in Western Canada are revealing tree stumps up to 7,000 years old where the region's rivers of ice have retreated to a historic minimum, a geologist said today.

Rising seas threaten 21 mega-cities

BANGKOK, Thailand - Cities around the world are facing the danger of rising seas and other disasters related to climate change.

They include Dhaka, Bangladesh; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Shanghai and Tianjin in China; Alexandria and Cairo in Egypt; Mumbai and Kolkata in India; Jakarta, Indonesia; Tokyo and Osaka-Kobe in Japan; Lagos, Nigeria; Karachi, Pakistan; Bangkok, Thailand, and New York and Los Angeles in the United States, according to studies by the United Nations and others.

Oceans may be losing ability to absorb CO2

PARIS (AFP) - The world's oceans may be losing their ability to soak up extra carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, with the risk that this will help stoke global warming, two new studies say.

Whats happening

FINGERPRINTS: Direct manifestations of a widespread and long-term trend toward warmer global temperatures

Heat waves and periods of unusually warm weather
Ocean warming, sea-level rise and coastal flooding
Glaciers melting
Arctic and Antarctic warming

HARBINGERS: Events that foreshadow the types of impacts likely to become more frequent and widespread with continued warming.

Spreading disease
Earlier spring arrival
Plant and animal range shifts and population changes
Coral reef bleaching
Downpours, heavy snowfalls, and flooding
Droughts and fires

Calif. fires displace more than 250,000

SAN DIEGO - Wildfires fanned by fierce desert winds consumed huge swaths of bone-dry Southern California on Monday, burning dozens of buildings and threatening hundreds more from Malibu to San Diego, including a jail, a hospital and nursing homes.

More than a dozen wildfires had engulfed the region, killing at least one person, injuring dozens more and forcing hundreds of thousands of evacuations. Overwhelmed firefighters said they lacked the resources to save many houses.

Fire forces southern Calif. evacuations

Wildfires were widely expected in Southern California over the weekend as hot weather and heavy Santa Ana winds marked the height of traditional wildfire season after one of the driest rain years on record.

Georgia seeks water disaster declaration

CUMMING, Ga. - With water supplies rapidly shrinking during a drought of historic proportions, Gov. Sonny Perdue declared a state of emergency Saturday for the northern third of Georgia and asked President Bush to declare it a major disaster area.

Climate change blamed for fading foliage

EAST MONTPELIER, Vt. - Every fall, Marilyn Krom tries to make a trip to Vermont to see its famously beautiful fall foliage.

This year, she noticed something different about the autumn leaves.

"They're duller, not as sparkly, if you know what I mean," Krom, 62, a registered nurse from Eastford, Conn., said during a recent visit. "They're less vivid."

NCDC: Drought spread through US in Sept.

WASHINGTON - Confirming what many farmers, boaters and others already knew, the government reported Tuesday that the drought parching much of the West and Southeast spread into the Mid-Atlantic area in September.

Rising temperatures said endanger Arctic

WASHINGTON - The Arctic is under increasing stress from warming temperatures as shrubs colonize the tundra, changing wildlife habitat and local climate conditions, researchers said Wednesday.

Above-normal Nov temps for Northeast, Midwest

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The National Weather Service on Thursday predicted above-normal temperatures in U.S. Northeast and Midwest for November.

Parched Georgia threatens to sue Corps

ATLANTA - The Army Corps of Engineers sidestepped the governor's demand to stop draining reservoirs Wednesday, setting up a legal showdown between the federal government and state officials who blame the policy for intensifying a record drought.

Heat robs U.S. regions of prime fall color

Autumn's warm sweep has come less than two months after the August heat wave was blamed for more than 50 deaths nationwide and average temperatures were at least 10 degrees above normal in numerous parts of the country. It was the warmest August in 113 years of record-keeping in eight states: Alabama, the Carolinas, Florida and Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia. Farther west, several cities including Boise, Reno and Missoula, Mont., tied or set records for their warmest July. Reno didn't get measurable rain for more than 12 weeks.

Forecasters: Remainder of Hurricane Season Above Average

Forecasters slightly downgraded the number of hurricanes expected to form for the remainder of the season, though activity is still expected to be above normal.

Water companies need to adapt to climate change: experts

AMSTERDAM (AFP) - Water management companies will face huge challenges due to climate change and need to start adapting their strategies, experts warned in Amsterdam on Friday

Typhoon and floods kill 58 in Vietnam

KIM TAN, Vietnam (AFP) - At least 58 people have died in Vietnam since a typhoon slammed into the country and brought the worst floods in decades to northern and central areas, rescue officials said Monday.

Dengue fever epidemic hits Caribbean, Latin America

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Reuters) - Dengue, a mosquito-borne virus that causes high fever, nausea and painful body aches, is reaching epidemic levels in the Caribbean and Latin America, health officials say.

Inner Mongolia grasslands turning to sand

BAOLIGEN, China (Reuters) - The steppes of Inner Mongolia are arid even at the best of times, but low rainfall as world temperatures rise is turning these grasslands into sand

Melting ice pack displaces Alaska walrus

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Thousands of walrus have appeared on Alaska's northwest coast in what conservationists are calling a dramatic consequence of global warming melting the Arctic sea ice.

Heat kills 1 at Chicago Marathon

CHICAGO - A Michigan police officer died and dozens of others needed medical care while running the Chicago Marathon as record heat and smothering humidity forced race organizers to shut down the course midway through the event.

By 10 a.m., temperatures had already reached a race-record of 88 degrees. The previous marathon record of 84 degrees was set in 1979. Pinkowski said it was a tough decision to stop the race, but a prudent one.