Subscribe Now

Along the western margin of Greenland’s Ice Sheet, which is the second largest ice sheet in the world after Antarctica, melting is occurring at a rate of 2.5 meters (about eight feet) per year. The whole ice sheet itself moves towards the ocean at a rate of 100 meters (328 feet) per year, while the [...]

Central Asia, a general term for the landlocked region extending from the Caspian Sea eastward into China, has a growing and economically developing population that is largely dependent on glacial melt for its water supply. The Region’s glaciers, however, have been shrinking. In the Eastern Pamir Region of Tajikistan, for example, between 1978 and 1990, [...]

The Earth’s largest and oldest lake, Russia’s Lake Baikal, provides habitat for over 2,500 species, most of which are found nowhere else on Earth. Baikal has changed rapidly over the last 60 years. These changes include a two degree Fahrenheit rise in the temperature of the water, a corresponding 300 percent increase in chlorophyll concentration [...]

Polar bears, Earth’s largest land predator, are most common on annual sea ice that sits over shallow seas. This ice provides the bears with a platform from which they can hunt for food. In Canada’s Western Hudson Bay region, which is at the southernmost extent of the polar bear’s range, winter and spring are the [...]

While forests fires may be the most visible and dramatic events that reshape North America’s forests, outbreaks of insect “pests” actually affect an area 45 times larger than that affected by fire. Generally, insects attack trees weakened by things like drought, wind storms, and fire, as healthy trees are usually able to fend-off attacks from [...]

In northern Québec, patches of Black Spruce forests exist alongside the arctic shrub tundra, forming an ecological zone known as forest-tundra. Heavy winter snows, short frost-free growing seasons, and high winds limit the possible area in which Black Spruce trees can grow. These harsh conditions also limit how tall these trees can grow, and in [...]

Temperatures in the East African Highlands have risen by about one degree Fahrenheit over the past 50 years. This area includes Uganda’s Rwenzori Mountains, which feature glaciers that supply the lowland plains region with water. Between 1987 and 2003, the area covered by glaciers in these mountains shrunk by about 50 percent. This retreat has [...]

The Labrador Sea Water (LWS) is a stream of cold, fresh, and oxygen rich water that travels down the western Atlantic coast from the Labrador Sea, which is located between Greenland and Newfoundland, towards the Equator. This stream forms in the late fall/early winter after the seasonal accumulation of glacial melt water, which is less [...]

The Arctic Ocean is surrounded by a series of river drainage basins, which collectively occupy an area 1.5 times that of the ocean basin itself. No other ocean basin’s temperature and salinity levels are more dependent on what happens on the adjacent land surface. These temperature and salinity levels in turn influence the behavior of [...]

Over the 20th century in the polar region of Russia’s Ural Mountains, there was a 1.6 degree Fahrenheit rise in average summertime temperature. Cold temperatures are usually the limiting factor for tree growth at the poles and high elevations.  Warming tends to allow trees to grow at higher elevations than they previously could, and also [...]

During the last ice age, an advancing glacier carved out a basin in the Siskiyou Mountains of what is northern California today. As the glacier melted, Castle Lake was formed. Every spring, as the ice on the lake melts and warm water on the bottom of the lake moves to the surface, stirring up nutrients in [...]

In the Rocky Mountains, when plants produce their flowers and how many flowers these plants produce is dependent upon the depth of snow pack and when it melts. Snowpack actually protects the plants that are waiting underneath from early spring frosts, which can damage the plants’ emerging flowers. Generally, flowers come out when snow melts [...]

During the winter in the northern Mid-West, the uppermost ten centimeters of the soil surface freezes. The duration and the depth of the soil freeze are dependent upon the severity of the winter. Warmer winters mean shallower and shorter-lived soil freezes, whereas colder winters mean deeper and longer-lived soil freezes. Also, because snow acts as [...]

During the winter in the northern Mid-West, the uppermost ten centimeters of the soil surface freezes. The duration and the depth of the soil freeze are dependent upon the severity of the winter. Warmer winters mean shallower and shorter-lived soil freezes, whereas colder winters mean deeper and longer-lived soil freezes. Also, because snow acts as [...]

During the winter in the northern Mid-West, the uppermost ten centimeters of the soil surface freezes. The duration and the depth of the soil freeze are dependent upon the severity of the winter. Warmer winters mean shallower and shorter-lived soil freezes, whereas colder winters mean deeper and longer-lived soil freezes. Also, because snow acts as [...]

During the winter in the northern Midwest, the uppermost ten centimeters of the soil surface freezes. The duration and the depth of the soil freeze are dependent upon the severity of the winter. Warmer winters mean shallower and shorter-lived soil freezes, whereas colder winters mean deeper and longer-lived soil freezes. Also, because snow acts as [...]

Since 1910, overall precipitation in the lower 48 states has increased by ten percent. This extra ten percent has made heavy and extreme precipitation events more frequent and more intense. Extreme precipitation events are defined as a 24-hour period with more than two inches of rainfall, and over the last century the proportion of rainfall [...]

During the winter in the northern Mid-West, the uppermost ten centimeters of the soil surface freezes. The duration and the depth of the soil freeze are dependent upon the severity of the winter. Warmer winters mean shallower and shorter-lived soil freezes, whereas colder winters mean deeper and longer-lived soil freezes. Also, because snow acts as [...]

During the winter in the northern Mid-West, the uppermost ten centimeters of the soil surface freezes. The duration and the depth of the soil freeze are dependent upon the severity of the winter. Warmer winters mean shallower and shorter-lived soil freezes, whereas colder winters mean deeper and longer-lived soil freezes. Also, because snow acts as [...]

During the winter in the northern Mid-West, the uppermost ten centimeters of the soil surface freezes. The duration and the depth of the soil freeze are dependent upon the severity of the winter. Warmer winters mean shallower and shorter-lived soil freezes, whereas colder winters mean deeper and longer-lived soil freezes. Also, because snow acts as [...]