A Dartmouth study uses machine learning to reexamine whether climate change is causing large waves in the polar jet stream that have brought Arctic-like temperatures and storms to temperate regions of the United States in recent years. The researchers constructed a timeline of the jet stream's wintertime variability since 1901 and found it's in the latest of several “wavy” periods from the past 125 years, most of which predate significant effects of climate change. The authors report that climate change is likely not amplifying extreme winter weather by making the jet stream wavier, but through more direct links such as a warmer atmosphere that retains more moisture.

In an era of intensifying extreme weather, this review offers a clear message: to better project the future of tropical cyclones in a warmer climate, we must first understand the patterns of the warming seas.

How meerkats cope with heat and drought, the process turning dryland ecosystems from methane sinks into methane sources and more from ESA’s journals.

An international team led by Prof. CHEN Jitao from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences studied ancient sedimentary rocks in Naqing, South China, to analyze their chemical compositions.

Researchers from HSE University and the Russian Academy of Sciences have assessed the levels of climate risks across Russian regions. Using five key climate risks, associated with heatwaves, water stress, wildfires, extreme precipitation, and permafrost degradation, the scientists ranked the country’s regions according to their need for adaptation to climate change. Krasnoyarsk Krai, Irkutsk Region, and Sverdlovsk Region rank among the highest for four of the five climate risks considered. The study has been published in Science of the Total Environment.

Intense, short-lived summer downpours are expected to become both more frequent and more intense across Alpine regions as the climate warms. In a new study, scientists from the University of Lausanne (UNIL) and the University of Padova analyzed data from nearly 300 mountain weather stations and found that a 2°C rise in regional temperature could double the frequency of these extreme events.