The effects of climate change encompass the biophysical and socio-environmental consequences arising from long-term shifts in climate variables driven primarily by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Key effects include increased global mean surface and ocean temperatures, altered precipitation patterns, sea-level rise via thermal expansion and cryosphere melt, and increased frequency and intensity of heatwaves, droughts, extreme precipitation events, and some categories of tropical cyclones. These changes cascade into impacts on hydrological regimes, ecosystem structure and function, species distributions, biogeochemical cycles, agricultural productivity, human health, and infrastructure, often interacting nonlinearly and amplifying existing environmental and socioeconomic vulnerabilities.
Peatlands store large amounts of carbon. However, when they are drained, they can become substantial sources of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO₂).
Earth Sciences
30 minutes ago
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A recent study coordinated by the University of Helsinki tracked the populations of 100 bird species across Finnish protected areas. Cold-dwelling species fared better in large protected areas, while the same species saw ...
Ecology
50 minutes ago
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Earth cooked to its hottest month on record in August, blowing far past a key climate threshold, due to the dangerous double whammy of human-caused climate change and a supersized El Niño, according to the European climate ...
Environment
10 hours ago
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The United States has endured its hottest summer on record, a new peak that scientists said should send alarm bells ringing over the increasingly dire impacts of climate change.
Environment
21 hours ago
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Children across Europe have returned to school after a summer of extreme heat. As the climate warms, one question is becoming harder to ignore: How can students learn when classrooms become dangerously hot?
Environment
Sep 8, 2026
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The catastrophic flood along the Nepal–China border that killed more than 1,400 people and left nearly 6,000 people missing devastated communities and infrastructure and renewed questions about how Himalayan countries prepare ...
Environment
Sep 8, 2026
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Climate change is driving rapid declines in seaweed forests globally, outpacing restoration efforts and undermining seaweed restoration as a viable carbon dioxide removal strategy, according to an essay by Karen Filbee-Dexter ...
Environment
Sep 8, 2026
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All over the world, from Oregon's old-growth forests to Queensland's eucalyptus groves, creatures depend on trees for shelter. A new analysis from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign suggests that as the climate destabilizes, ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 8, 2026
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Drylands are defined as regions where rainfall is low relative to the atmosphere's ability to draw water from soil and plants. Expanding boundaries of these regions are frequent concerns in climate change considerations. ...
The mountain section whose collapse triggered fatal floods in Nepal and China on Aug. 26 had experienced unprecedented heat for the time of year, meteorological data analyzed by a researcher show.
Earth Sciences
Sep 8, 2026
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