Climatology is the scientific discipline within the atmospheric sciences that investigates the statistical behavior, physical processes, and dynamics of the climate system over periods from decades to millennia. It analyzes long-term patterns and variability of atmospheric variables such as temperature, precipitation, radiation, and circulation, and their coupling with oceans, cryosphere, land surface, and biosphere. Climatology employs observational datasets, reanalyses, paleoclimate proxies, and numerical climate models to quantify mean states, extremes, teleconnections, and feedbacks, and to attribute observed changes to internal variability and external forcings, including solar, volcanic, and anthropogenic influences.
Cities are often described as "heat islands," with media reports warning that some neighborhoods can be 20° F (7° C) hotter than others. But those temperatures are often based on satellite data rather than the conditions ...
Environment
8 hours ago
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Citizen science is booming and could play a much greater role in tackling climate change, reef health, biodiversity and public health challenges by involving members of the public throughout the research process, according ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 7, 2026
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Many of the boulders scattered across the Swiss landscape did not originate where they now stand. Instead, they were carried by ice nearly 24,000 years ago. For the first time, researchers at the University of Lausanne (UNIL) ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 2, 2026
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The Tibetan Plateau, together with the Hindu Kush–Karakorum–Himalaya region, has more snow and ice than any other region on Earth apart from the polar regions. As a result, this high-altitude region is particularly sensitive ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 30, 2026
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High-resolution sediment analyses from the Arabian Sea reveal, for the first time, that summer and winter monsoons respond differently to global climate change. The study enhances understanding of past precipitation patterns ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 30, 2026
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Reliable operation of data centers has become essential to nearly all sectors of modern society, including health care, education, government services, power grid operation, banking, defense and disaster relief. New research ...
Environment
Jun 26, 2026
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From June 29 onward, Switzerland's glaciers will have exhausted their snow reserves. Every liter of meltwater now causes them to lose mass—this is Glacier Loss Day. Between the extreme years of 2003 and 2022 alone, 200 square ...
Environment
Jun 26, 2026
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Last fall, the 12 students in the Jackson School of Geosciences' GEO 347G "Climate System Modeling" class set out to understand something that hit close to home: What were the climatological factors that made the July 4, ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 25, 2026
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Malaria is one of the world's deadliest infectious diseases. Because it is transmitted by mosquitoes, malaria is extremely sensitive to environmental conditions like rainfall and temperature that affect mosquito survival ...
Environment
Jun 21, 2026
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When heat waves hit the Western United States, the risk of wildfires quickly rises. The prolonged heat dries out vegetation, but that's only part of the cause—heat waves also play other roles in spreading wildfires.
Environment
Jun 18, 2026
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