The 2012 wildfire season has begun in the Southwest, with fires blazing through Colorado and Arizona. As of yesterday, according to the National Interagency Fire Center, the Hewlett fire in Colorado was about 5,090 acres, and fires in Arizona had grown to an estimated 26,376 acres. Two of the fires in Arizona were 50 percent contained, but...
In The News
New Products Assess Effects of Climate Change on Water Availability
May 18, 2012 |
Department of the Interior
In order to evaluate the effects of climate change on water availability in the U.S., Department of the Interior agencies have released two new products. The Bureau of Reclamation developed a...
Some Mammals May Have Trouble Keeping Pace With Climate Change
May 18, 2012 |
PNAS
Across the Western Hemisphere, 9.2 percent of mammals on average will potentially be unable to keep pace with climate change, and in some areas this could be as high as 39 percent, according to a recent study published in PNAS. The authors modeled the speed at which species will need to move to find new suitable...
Northern Hemisphere Emissions May Cause Subtropical Drying
May 18, 2012 |
Nature
Scientists find that emissions of black carbon aerosols—small atmospheric particles—and tropospheric ozone, pollutants mostly emitted by countries in the low- to mid-latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, are expanding the width of the tropical boundary. This expansion could lead to subtropical...
U.S. House Votes to Cut Funding for Climate Change Communication
May 18, 2012 |
Climate Central
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill last week that, if passed by the Senate and signed by the President, will significantly cut funds to federal climate change education and communication. Climate Central explains that the House approved amendments to cut funding from...
Warm SW Temperatures to Persist Through July
May 11, 2012 |
NOAA/CLIMAS
May 2011 thru April 2012 was the warmest consecutive 12-month period on record for the contiguous U.S., according to the April State of the Climate from NOAA. The month of April was the third warmest on record for the U.S., with temperatures 3.6 degrees F above average, while precipitation was 0.20 inches below average. Central and...
Colorado River Recreation Boosts Economic Activity
May 11, 2012 |
Southwick Associates/Protect the Flows
Recreation along the Colorado River stimulates an estimated $25.6 billion in economic activity per year for the six states—Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming—through which the river and its tributaries flow (California, which borders the river in the southeast part of the state, was not included in the analysis due to sparse population in the area of the state...
North America Contains 500 Years of Carbon Storage
May 11, 2012 |
Department of Energy
North America has at least 500 years of storage in geologic formations that could accommodate carbon dioxide emissions from industrial sources. The Department of Energy, along with federal partners in Canada and Mexico, produced an atlas that maps the potential...
Stream Temperatures Warming Slower Than Previously Thought
May 11, 2012 |
Geophysical Research Letters
Stream temperatures in the western U.S. are not warming as quickly as scientists expected, according to a new study in Geophysical Research Letters. The authors used long-term stream temperature data from sites that were minimally and highly impacted by humans to determine the amount of warming in maximum, average,...
Warm Temperatures, Active Wildfire Season Projected
May 3, 2012 |
CLIMAS/National Interagency Fire Center
Since January 1, precipitation in Arizona and New Mexico has been less than 50 percent of average, but thanks to higher-than-average precipitation in December, less than half of each state is currently in extreme or exceptional drought. The April Climate Outlook from CLIMAS...