Weather News

September 17, 2025

Top Headlines

The Ocean’s Most Abundant Microbe Is Near Its Breaking Point

Sep. 9, 2025 — Tiny ocean microbes called Prochlorococcus, once thought to be climate survivors, may struggle as seas warm. These cyanobacteria drive 5% of Earth’s photosynthesis and underpin much of the marine food web. A decade of research shows they thrive ...

Satellites Confirm 1990s Sea-level Predictions Were Shockingly Accurate

Sep. 6, 2025 — Satellite data reveals sea-level rise has unfolded almost exactly as predicted by 1990s climate models, with one key underestimation: melting ice sheets. Researchers stress the importance of refining local projections as seas continue to rise faster ...

Scientists Fear the Atlantic’s Great Ocean Conveyor Could Shut Down

Sep. 1, 2025 — A new study projects that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC)—the system of currents that includes the Gulf Stream—could shut down after 2100 under high-emission scenarios. This shutdown would drastically reduce heat transport ...

A Monster Seaweed Bloom Is Taking over the Atlantic

Sep. 1, 2025 — Sargassum has escaped the Sargasso Sea and exploded across the Atlantic, forming the massive Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt. Fueled by nutrient runoff, Amazon outflows, and climate events, these blooms now reshape ecosystems, economies, and ...

Greenland’s Glacial Runoff Is Powering Explosions of Ocean Life

Aug. 18, 2025 — NASA-backed simulations reveal that meltwater from Greenland’s Jakobshavn Glacier lifts deep-ocean nutrients to the surface, sparking large summer blooms of phytoplankton that feed the Arctic food ...

A Record-breaking Antenna Just Deployed in Space. Here’s What It Will See

Aug. 18, 2025 — NASA and ISRO s NISAR satellite has just reached a major milestone: the successful deployment of its enormous 39-foot antenna reflector in orbit. Folded up like an umbrella during launch, the reflector is now fully extended and ready to support ...

NASA’s PREFIRE Satellites Reveal a Secret Glow Escaping from Our Planet

Aug. 18, 2025 — With its two tiny CubeSats, NASA’s PREFIRE mission is capturing invisible heat escaping from Earth, offering clues to how ice, clouds, and storms influence the climate system. The insights could lead to better weather forecasts and a deeper ...

The Surprising Way Rising CO2 Could Supercharge Space Storms

Aug. 17, 2025 — Rising CO₂ levels will make the upper atmosphere colder and thinner, altering how geomagnetic storms impact satellites. Future storms could cause sharper density spikes despite lower overall density, increasing drag-related ...

NASA’s SWOT Satellite Captures Kamchatka Megaquake Tsunami in Striking Detail

Aug. 17, 2025 — When a massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, NASA and CNES’s SWOT satellite captured a rare and detailed picture of the tsunami that followed. Recorded just ...

Could This New Earthquake System Give Alaska 50 Seconds to Prepare?

Aug. 16, 2025 — A new study reveals that an earthquake early warning system, similar to the USGS ShakeAlert used in California, Oregon, and Washington, could give Alaskan communities precious seconds to prepare before strong shaking hits. Modeling shows that towns ...

Mexican Cave Stalagmites Reveal the Deadly Droughts Behind the Maya Collapse

Aug. 16, 2025 — Chemical evidence from a stalagmite in Mexico has revealed that the Classic Maya civilization’s decline coincided with repeated severe wet-season droughts, including one that lasted 13 years. These ...

Unprecedented Climate Shocks Are Changing the Great Lakes Forever

Aug. 14, 2025 — Extreme heat waves and cold spells on the Great Lakes have more than doubled since the late 1990s, coinciding with a major El Niño event. Using advanced ocean-style modeling adapted for the lakes, researchers traced temperature trends back to 1940, ...

Latest Headlines

updated 10:07am EDT

Scientists Finally Crack the Mystery of Rogue Waves

Sep. 8, 2025 — Once thought to be sailors’ myths, rogue waves gained credibility after a towering 80-foot wall of water struck the Draupner oil platform in 1995. New research shows that these extreme waves ...

Scientists Reveal Alaska Could Get Up to Two Minutes’ Warning Before the Next Big Quake

Aug. 8, 2025 — A new study suggests Alaska could get 10–120 seconds of warning before major quakes, with more seismic stations adding up to 15 extra seconds. ...

The Hidden Climate Battle Between Forests and the Ocean

Aug. 2, 2025 — Between 2003 and 2021, Earth saw a net boost in photosynthesis, mainly thanks to land plants thriving in warming, wetter conditions—especially in temperate and high-latitude regions. Meanwhile, ...

515-Mile Lightning Flash Caught from Space

Aug. 1, 2025 — A jaw-dropping 515-mile lightning bolt lit up the skies from Texas to Kansas City, smashing previous records and reshaping our understanding of extreme weather. Thanks to advanced satellite tech, ...

Satellites Just Revealed a Hidden Global Water Crisis—and It’s Worse Than Melting Ice

July 27, 2025 — For over two decades, satellites have quietly documented a major crisis unfolding beneath our feet: Earth's continents are drying out at ...

Frozen for 12,000 Years, This Alpine Ice Core Captures the Rise of Civilization

July 16, 2025 — An ancient glacier high in the French Alps has revealed the oldest known ice in Western Europe—dating back over 12,000 years to the last Ice Age. ...

25 Years, 1 Coastline Report Card: The Shocking Wins and Misses

July 16, 2025 — Twenty-five years after first warning that oil spills would wane while invasive species and climate impacts would surge, an international team revisits its coastal forecasts and finds many ...

Antarctica’s Slow Collapse Caught on Camera—and It’s Accelerating

July 7, 2025 — Long-lost 1960s aerial photos let Copenhagen researchers watch Antarctica’s Wordie Ice Shelf crumble in slow motion. By fusing film with satellites, they discovered warm ocean water, not surface ...

Scientists Thought the Arctic Was Sealed in Ice — They Were Wrong

July 5, 2025 — For decades, scientists believed the Arctic Ocean was sealed under a massive slab of ice during the coldest ice ages — but new research proves otherwise. Sediment samples from the seafloor, paired ...

Rainforest Deaths Are Surging and Scientists Just Found the Shocking Cause

July 3, 2025 — Tropical trees are dying faster than ever, and it's not just heat or drought to blame. Scientists have uncovered a surprising culprit: ordinary thunderstorms. These quick, fierce storms, powered by ...

Antarctica’s Ocean Flip: Satellites Catch Sudden Salt Surge Melting Ice from Below

July 2, 2025 — A massive and surprising change is unfolding around Antarctica. Scientists have discovered that the Southern Ocean is getting saltier, and sea ice is melting at record speed, enough to match the size ...

New Orleans Is Sinking—and So Are Its $15 Billion Flood Defenses

June 28, 2025 — Parts of New Orleans are sinking at alarming rates — including some of the very floodwalls built to protect it. A new satellite-based study finds that some areas are losing nearly two inches of ...

The Atlantic's Chilling Secret: A Century of Data Reveals Ocean Current Collapse

June 20, 2025 — A century-old mystery of a stubborn cold patch in the North Atlantic is finally being unraveled. A new study links this anomaly to a long-term weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning ...

Hidden Carbon Giants: Satellite Data Reveals a 40-Year Arctic Peatland Surge

June 20, 2025 — Arctic peatlands are expanding with rising temperatures, storing more carbon at least for now. But future warming could reverse this benefit, releasing massive ...

Flash Floods in the Alps: How Climate Change Is Supercharging Summer Storms

June 20, 2025 — Fierce, fast summer rainstorms are on the rise in the Alps, and a 2 C temperature increase could double their frequency. A new study from researchers at the University of Lausanne and the University ...

Only 3 Years Left: The Carbon Budget for 1.5°C Is Almost Gone

June 27, 2025 — At current emission rates, we're just over three years away from blowing through the remaining carbon budget to limit warming to 1.5°C. This new international study paints a stark picture: the ...

Winter Sea Ice Supercharges Southern Ocean’s CO2 Uptake

June 18, 2025 — A breakthrough study has uncovered that the Southern Ocean's power to pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere fluctuates dramatically depending on winter sea ice. When sea ice lingers longer ...

123,000-Year-Old Coral Fossils Warn of Sudden, Catastrophic Sea-Level Rise

June 23, 2025 — Ancient coral fossils from the remote Seychelles islands have unveiled a dramatic warning for our future—sea levels can rise in sudden, sharp bursts even when global temperatures stay ...

Passive Cooling Breakthrough Could Slash Data Center Energy Use

June 14, 2025 — UC San Diego engineers have created a passive evaporative cooling membrane that could dramatically slash energy use in data centers. As demand for AI and cloud computing soars, traditional cooling ...

Scientists Reveal the Hidden Trigger Behind Massive Floods

June 14, 2025 — Atmospheric rivers, while vital for replenishing water on the U.S. West Coast, are also the leading cause of floods though storm size alone doesn t dictate their danger. A groundbreaking study ...

Scientists Uncover Why "stealth" Volcanoes Stay Silent Until Eruption

June 10, 2025 — Some volcanoes erupt with little to no warning, posing serious risks to nearby communities and air traffic. A study of Alaska's Veniaminof volcano reveals how specific internal conditions like ...

First Direct Observation of the Trapped Waves That Shook the World in 2023

June 3, 2025 — A new study has finally confirmed the theory that the cause of extraordinary global tremors in September -- October 2023 was indeed two mega tsunamis in Greenland that became trapped standing waves. ...

Geological Time Capsule Highlights Great Barrier Reef's Resilience

June 2, 2025 — New research adds to our understanding of how rapidly rising sea levels due to climate change foreshadow the end of the Great Barrier Reef as we know it. The findings suggest the reef can withstand ...

Still on the Right Track? Researchers Enable Reliable Monitoring of the Paris Climate Goals

June 2, 2025 — Global warming is continuously advancing. How quickly this will happen can now be predicted more accurately than ever before, thanks to a method developed by climate researchers. Anthropogenic global ...

Coastal Flooding More Frequent Than Previously Thought

June 2, 2025 — Flooding in coastal communities is happening far more often than previously thought, according to a new study. The study also found major flaws with the widely used approach of using marine water ...

Researchers Use Deep Learning to Predict Flooding This Hurricane Season

June 2, 2025 — Researchers have developed a deep learning model called LSTM-SAM that predicts extreme water levels from tropical cyclones more efficiently and accurately, especially in data-scarce coastal regions, ...

Air-Quality Monitoring Underestimates Toxic Emissions to Salton Sea Communities, Study Finds

June 2, 2025 — Researchers showed that hydrogen sulfide, which is associated with numerous health conditions, is emitted from California's largest lake at levels far higher and more frequently than previously ...

Small Currents, Big Impact: Satellite Breakthrough Reveals Hidden Ocean Forces

May 30, 2025 — While scientists have long studied currents of large eddies, the smaller ones -- called submesoscale eddies -- are notoriously difficult to detect. These currents, which range from several kilometers ...

2021's Hurricane Ida Could Have Been Even Worse for NYC

May 29, 2025 — Hurricane Ida wreaked an estimated $75 billion in total damages and was responsible for 112 fatalities -- including 32 in New Jersey and 16 in New York state. Yet the hurricane could have been even ...

Atlantic Ocean Current Unlikely to Collapse With Climate Change

May 29, 2025 — Researchers created a detailed physical model that suggests a major Atlantic Ocean current will weaken far less under climate change than indicated by more extreme climate model ...