Arctic Tundra Holds Global Warming Time Bomb
August 25 — Researchers sampled tundra soils across North America and estimate there may be almost 100 billion tons of carbon in the first meter of soil alone – equivalent to about a quarter of the amount currently in Earth's atmosphere, or 10 years' worth of global emissions from human activity. (Discovery News)

Alpine Archive
August 24 — Melting alpine glaciers are revealing clues to Neolithic life in the high mountains, and the finds are also providing key indicators to climate change. (BBC News)

Corrosive Oceans: Carbon Emissions Threaten Ecosystem
August 22 — The world's oceans are becoming more acidic and corrosive because of the same carbon emissions that cause another immense problem: global warming. (ABC News)

Heavy Rain Triggers Destructive Tornadoes
August 22 — Heavy rains that often accompany long-lasting thunderstorms called supercells may be key in triggering tornadoes to form – rain falling in heavy sheets from a supercell storm cloud provides a strong push to updrafting air, causing it to spin up into a fully fledged twister. (Discovery News)

World Heading Toward Cooler 2008
August 21 — Data show that global temperatures in the first half of the year have been more than 0.1 degrees Celsius [0.18 degrees Fahrenheit] cooler than any year since 2000, and the principal reason is La Niña, part of the natural cycle that also includes El Niño. (BBC News)

Coal's Toxic Legacy to the Arctic
August 18 — Data from a Greenland ice core indicates that coal burning is the prime source of heavy metal pollution in the Arctic. (BBC News)

Acid Rain Molecule Tells All
August 18 — A mysterious chemical reaction that transforms acid rain into other pollutants has given up its secret to scientists, and an unusual molecule is the culprit. (Discovery News)

Ocean Dead Zones Going Global
August 14 — Like a chronic disease spreading through the body, "dead zones" with too little oxygen for life are expanding in the world's oceans. (Discovery News)

Southern Seals Sample Salty Seas
August 12 — Elephant seals are helping scientists study temperature and salinity changes in the Southern Ocean; equipped with computerized tags, the seals can reach regions of the sea impenetrable to researchers during the harsh winter months. (BBC News)

Satellites Help Explain Greenland Ice Loss Mystery
August 9 — A combination of satellite measurements shows that most of Greenland's ice is lost through many smaller glaciers, not two larger ones. (New Scientist Environment)

In the Indian Himalayas, You Can Hear Climate Change Before You Can See It
August 8 — The river that rushes through the Lahaul-Spiti Valley in the Indian Himalayas is fed almost entirely by melt from the surrounding glaciers, and the elevated sound and height of the river's rapids mean the glaciers have never receded so quickly, glaciologists say. (ABC News)

Shellfish May Invade North Atlantic as Ice Melts
August 8 — North Pacific shellfish – including snails and other mollusks – may blaze a path across the Arctic Ocean to the North Atlantic if the sea ice melts in coming decades as predicted, a pair of scientists said. (National Geographic News)

Yellowstone Supervolcano is Only Lukewarm
August 8 — At about 50 miles beneath Earth's surface, the Yellowstone hotspot is about 2,642 degrees Fahrenheit, say researchers – which, for a supervolcano, is only lukewarm. (New Scientist Environment)

Australia's East Coast Climate Zones Heading South
August 7 — Ocean temperature records suggest that Australia's east coast climate zones have moved south by about 124 miles over the past 60 years, marine scientists said. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Extreme Rains to Be Supercharged by Warming
August 7 — Global warming could make extreme rains stronger and more frequent than previously forecast, according to a new study that looked at satellite data to confirm what models have previously suggested. (National Geographic News)

Scientists Draw Detailed Arctic Map
August 6 — A team of scientists from Durham University in northern England say they have drawn up the first detailed map of the Arctic, highlighting areas that could be subject to territorial disputes. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Will Grasslands Overtake U.S. Forests Due to Warming?
August 6 — Climate change may cause grasslands to spread to parts of the United States that are currently covered in forest, according to a new study. (National Geographic News)

Scientists Learn More About Ocean Beds
August 5 — Scientists are taking part in a multi-million dollar project to find out more about the ocean bed in waters off three Australian states, using sonar technology that takes detailed 3-D images of the ocean floor. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

The Hottest Water on Earth
August 5 — At about 1.9 miles beneath the surface, sitting atop what could be a huge bubble of magma, is the hottest water ever found on Earth, which could offer a first glimpse at how essential minerals are leached out of Earth and released into the oceans. (ABC News)

Software Predicts Where El Niño will Strike Next
August 5 — Forecasting the weather during an El Niño event could soon be as simple as joining the dots, thanks to software that maps the world's climate as an interconnected network. (New Scientist Environment)

Ancient Moss, Insects Found in Antarctica
August 4 — Fourteen million years ago, mosses grew and insects crawled in what are now barren valleys in Antarctica, according to scientists who have recovered remains of life from that frozen continent. (Associated Press)

Harsh Climate Change Once Fell Swiftly
August 1 — By examining sediments preserved at the bottom of a remote lake in western Germany, scientists say they found that what's known as the Younger Dryas cold period took just a year to sweep across the continent, starting in autumn 12,679 years ago. (Discovery News)

Warming Won't Drive More Hurricanes, Study Says
August 1 — Climatologists believe that rising ocean temperatures can lead to stronger hurricanes, but question whether the storms will form more often in a warmer world – a new study that accounts for storms potentially missed in the historical record suggests that they won't. (Discovery News)

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