News by Subject Atmospheric Science

Governments must provide stronger protection for crucial small mangrove patches, is the call led by scientists at international conservation charity ZSL (Zoological Society of London), which hosts the IUCN SSC Mangrove Specialist Group, in a letter published in Science today.

A Japanese research group has identified a giant streak structure among the clouds covering planet Venus based on observation from the spacecraft Akatsuki. The team also revealed the origins of this structure using large-scale climate simulations. The group was led by Project Assistant Professor Hiroki Kashimura (Kobe University, Graduate School of Science) and these findings were published on Jan. 9, 2019, in Nature Communications.

Heat trapped by greenhouse gases is raising ocean temperatures faster than previously thought, concludes an analysis of four recent ocean heating observations. The results provide further evidence that earlier claims of a slowdown or 'hiatus' in global warming over the past 15 years were unfounded.

Winter snows in the Sierra Nevada Mountains create the snowpacks that serve as a primary water source for the western US. Due to rising average temperatures, snowpacks in the Great Basin appear to be transitioning from seasonal (predictable amount and melt rate), to 'ephemeral,' (short-lived, less predictable). Ephemeral snow has been poorly tracked and understood. Research by a former University of Nevada, Reno graduate student and her professors are shedding some light on the subject.