Photo: Ian Britton Ahh, Venice – the City of Water. Built on a lagoon along the Adriatic Sea, there must be a looming disaster in store for this lovely, sinking city in the face of climate change. Right? That was the harsh verdict of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). But new research is questioning that conclusion. The frequency of storm surges– known by Venetians as “Acqua Alta”– is expected to drop 30 percent by the end of this century. That’s... [Read more]

Extreme precipitation events seem to be becoming more common in the Norther Hemisphere. But it’s been very hard for scientists to pinpoint a major weather event to global warming. Still, when a 100-year flood comes and then returns in a matter of a few years, it’s hard not to consider it a sign of a warming world. Several papers published this week in the journal Nature demonstrate that such extreme precipitation events in specific localities is the result of climate change and not an... [Read more]

Queensland, in Northeast Australia, has seen a troubling years. A decade-long drought was followed this past November by the start extreme rains that flooded an area the size of France and Germany combined. Extreme rainfall in Queensland may become more frequent under climate change. Photo: SunriseOn7 on Flickr The large lowlands and subtropical climate make it particularly prone to tropical cyclones and a new study shows climate change could make matters worse. Janice Lough, a climate scientist... [Read more]