#global-warming

#global-warming

Back in 2016 an article in the New York Times referred to Iceland as a mosquito-free island paradise. While nearby countries host mosquito populations during warmer times of the year, one of the going theories was that Iceland's propensity for harsh swings between thawing and freezing helped keep the bloodsuckers from getting a foothold. But that same Times piece warned that this skeeter-free status could be in peril.

Last month was the third-hottest September on record, scientists at the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) have revealed. The global average air temperature for the month was 16.11°C (60.99°F), which is 0.66°C (1.18°F) above the 1991-2020 average for September. Worryingly, the new figure is just below the September record-holder from two years ago - a global average air temperature of 16.38°C (61.48°F). Experts point to human-caused greenhouse gas emissions as the cause for last month's conditions, which also saw heavy rainfall and flooding in Europe.

Bees, like people, may cope with rising heat by retreating to cooler environments, such as shade or their nests, to avoid overheating, researchers found.

"Glaciers tend to suppress the volume of eruptions from the volcanoes beneath them," said University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate student and lead author Pablo Moreno-Yaeger in a statement. "But as glaciers retreat due to climate change, our findings suggest these volcanoes go on to erupt more frequently and more explosively."

Extreme heat reduces dairy cows' ability to produce milk by 10%. Just one hour of wet-bulb temperature above 26C can reduce a cow's daily milk production by 0.5%. Exposure to high temperatures also has a prolonged effect, with milk production still lower than typical levels up to 10 days after the initial hot day.

Reforestation is not a silver bullet. It's a powerful strategy, but it has to be paired with serious emissions reductions.

Alongside leading research institutions, Arctic Reflections aims to investigate winter ice thickening's potential to enhance summer sea ice preservation amid global warming.