GoKawiil
Tech News
Climate scientists report that current El Niño conditions have already pushed sea levels in parts of the Pacific up by as much as 1.3 feet due to thermal expansion of warming ocean water. Researchers warn this effect is expected to intensify further as a result of lunar gravitational cycles influencing tides.
Researchers from Alaska's fire research consortium used thaw probes to compare soil near a burn scar with nearby unburned ground. Where fire had stripped away insulating moss and topsoil, the frozen layer sat three times deeper than normal, showing rapid thaw following the Yankovich Road Fire.
A University of California climate scientist received her fifth public-records request this year seeking all correspondence about a study linking fossil-fuel emissions to climate damages, filed via a law firm for Iowa-based Patriots Foundation. Nature identified at least 30 such requests since 2024 sent to 13 public universities, affecting dozens of climate scientists, legal scholars and attorneys; Politico separately found over 100 records requests since 2021 tied to climate-damage lawsuits.
A discussion piece examines various climate-change impacts already affecting the United States, asking which of these risks receives the least public attention relative to its severity. It does not name a single definitive answer but surveys multiple ongoing effects, such as extreme heat, flooding, and drought, that are reshaping communities nationwide.
A new paper in Climate and Atmospheric Science by two University of Kansas researchers finds the rate of global warming roughly doubled between 2011-2025 compared with 1971-2025. Extrapolating that accelerated trend, the authors project the planet could cross the Paris Agreement's 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold by 2028, nearly a decade earlier than prior estimates.
NOAA released its winter forecast this week, saying a strong El Niño pattern will heavily influence precipitation and temperature trends across the U.S. The agency's outlook maps show wetter-than-average conditions expected across southern states while parts of the northern U.S. are likely to see below-normal precipitation.
New research shows that roughly half of the world's population has experienced overlapping extreme heat and wildfire smoke exposure. Researchers link the increasing frequency of these combined events to climate change, noting that each hazard carries significant health risks on its own and becomes more dangerous when they coincide.
An opinion piece argues that climate breakdown, inequality, technological disruption, war and weakening democracy are compounding into a single overlapping crisis rather than separate problems. It criticizes what it calls 'exit culture' — responses ranging from wealthy individuals buying private security and property, to hard-right nationalist movements, religious escapism, and tech utopianism promising escape via AI or space — as dangerous fantasies rather than real solutions. The piece also cautions against a left-wing tendency to romanticize institutional collapse as automatically progressive.
A startup originally built around AI applications for climate work has received backing from Nvidia, reportedly after deprioritizing its climate-focused mission. The shift in focus preceded or accompanied the investment, according to reporting on the deal.
A reassessment of 892 reef-building coral species against IUCN Red List criteria found that of the 774 with sufficient data, 340 species (44%) now qualify as threatened, including 33 Critically Endangered, 251 Endangered and 56 Vulnerable. The analysis, an update of a 2008 assessment, used proxies such as global coral cover trends and projected severe bleaching frequency under a moderate-emissions climate scenario, since population data for most coral species are lacking.
A new BioScience paper led by Oregon State University's Bill Ripple finds seven of 16 planetary vital signs monitored by researchers are at their most extreme levels ever recorded, including atmospheric CO2, which is 50% above preindustrial levels, and record-low Greenland and Antarctic ice combined with record-high ocean heat. The study also reports warming has accelerated from roughly 0.05°C per decade between 1880-1970 to 0.36°C per decade since 2010.
A compilation of cave mineral records spanning Asia, South America and Africa traces how summer monsoon systems in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres have shifted in tandem over the last 450,000 years. The records show these interhemispheric monsoon systems responding to shared climate forcings, including glacial cycles and abrupt cooling events like Heinrich stadials.