Sea levels may swell much higher than previously predicted, thanks to feedback mechanisms that are speeding up ice melt in Greenland and Antarctica. Climate simulations need to take such feedbacks into account, William Hay, a geologist at the University of Colorado Boulder, told the Geological Society of America meeting in Charlotte, N.C., on November 4. So far the models haven’t incorporated suc ... read more >>

If the canal plan goes through, Robinson says the incentive to maintain a healthy delta is gone. And he says, diverting freshwater from ever entering the delta will increase the already-rising salinity.

But water resource engineer Jay Lund of UC Davis says the increase in delta salt levels would be small.

LUND: "In our modeling results, we're not seeing a tremendous effect. We're seeing ... read more >>

The salty inland lake bordering the nations dropped a record 4.9 feet over the last 12 months because of industry use and evaporation, the Hydrological Service of Israel said. That's the steepest Dead Sea decline since data-keeping started in the 1950s. Half the drop was caused by Israel Chemicals and Jordan's Arab Potash Co., said Gidon Bromberg, Israeli director of the Friends of Earth Middle E ... read more >>

Climate scientists cannot attribute any single weather event -- whether a drought, wildfire or extreme storm -- to climate change. But extreme events, such as Hurricane Sandy, are glimpses of the types of occurrences the world could be more vulnerable to in the future. As the devastation left by Sandy continues to reverberate, decision-makers at every level are asking: How can we be better prepar ... read more >>

The 2007 IPCC report projected a global sea level rise between 0.2 and 0.5 meters by the year 2100. But current measurements of sea level rise suggest Earth’s seas are rising at the maximum rate proposed by the IPCC – or faster. These measurements suggest a rise of one meter or more by the end of the century. That’s according to University of Colorado geologist Bill Hay, who presented his results ... read more >>

Sea levels are rising faster than expected from global warming and new research is said to reveal the reasons why.
The last official IPCC report in 2007 projected a global sea level rise between 0.2 and 0.5 meters by the year 2100. But current sea-level rise measurements meet or exceed the high end of that range and suggest a rise of one meter or more by the end of the century.
University of Co ... read more >>

A little more than one week after Hurricane Sandy delivered a crushing blow to the Mid-Atlantic states and Southern New England, another significant storm is bearing down on the region on Wednesday. The storm constitutes a major threat to areas that are still picking up the pieces after Sandy, and it brings with it a new problem — accumulating snow — that is likely to affect areas where electrici ... read more >>

A children animation video about groundwater. Very Cute! ... read more >>

Haven’t we been here before? A hurricane devastates a major coastal city, and a debate over climate change comes in like the tide.
Will the warnings about sea-level rise in the wake of Hurricane Sandy wash away like the concern seen after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005? Or has the tide finally risen too high to ignore?
“Our climate is changing,” said New York Mayor Michael Blo ... read more >>

Hurricane Sandy, which made landfall near Atlantic City, N.J. on Oct. 29, brought tropical storm force wind field to a vast area that stretched nearly 1,000 miles across. The size of the storm enabled it to drive a record high storm surge into the New Jersey coast, New York City, and parts of Connecticut and Rhode Island. At The Battery in Lower Manhattan, the water reached a record 13.88 feet ab ... read more >>