Millennia of ice, atmosphere are stored in this Colorado lab
By Dilpreet Raju Medill Reports Thousands of meters of ice are kept in below-freezing temperatures so climate researchers can analyze what the Earth’s climate was like hundreds of thousands of years ago. Climatologists can then take bits of the ice, which hold thousands of years of undisturbed snow, to extract what concentrations of greenhouse gases […]
Hands of Doomsday Clock now 90 seconds from midnight
By Dilpreet Raju Medill Reports Scientists and leaders of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the hands of the Doomsday Clock on Tuesday to their closest ever position to midnight, a metaphorical barometer for how close the planet is to human-forced annihilation. The hands now sit at 90 seconds to midnight. This is the […]
The geological importance of caves to time climate change
By Dilpreet Raju Medill Reports Some of the interweaving drivers of Earth’s climate change remain a mystery, but many of the world’s leading paleoclimatologists work every day to fill in the gaps. Paul Töchterle, a geological Ph.D. candidate at the University of Innsbruck in Austria, is working to revise the methods scientists use to date […]
Stalagmites reveal clues to changing ocean currents, changing climate
By Ilana Wolchinsky Medill Reports Climatologist Laura Endres began her Ph.D. a year ago at ETH Zürich in the paleoclimate field, drawing on her background in earth and climate sciences. Endres uses climate records encased in cave stalagmites to reveal past climate patterns — paleoclimate — that give clues to how fast climate change is […]
Will evaporation dry up water sources as climate change worsens?
By Gabrielle Rancifer Medill Reports “If we didn’t have evaporation, we wouldn’t have water in the atmosphere,” said Thomas Lowell, a geology professor at the University of Cincinnati. Researchers closely follow and evaluate both evaporation and precipitation because they are key components of the water cycle. Evaporation delivers water to the atmosphere, and precipitation delivers […]
Time-lapse, satellite imagery show how meltwater plumes trigger calving ice
By Kala Hunter Medill Reports As Greenland’s glaciers melt from an abruptly warming climate, scientists are studying how mammoth glaciers are losing their ice. The research is urgent to better predict the speed of global glacial retreat that leads directly to sea level rise across the globe. “You study Greenland because it’s the future of […]
2020 warming trend may intensify infectious diseases, scientists say
Global warming may make infectious diseases such as COVID-19 more widespread, warn health and climate experts. They say increasing temperatures are changing disease progression and interaction among people in ways that make it hard to predict and prepare for future public health crises.
Youth in Edgewater have mixed concerns on rising tides
By Nicole Girten Medill Reports Massive waves as high as 23 feet crashed on Kathy Osterman beach in Edgewater when a powerful storm hit Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood the morning of Jan. 11. A red flag banning swimming billowed in 55 mph winds as storm surges reached two feet. Local Alderman Harry Osterman sent a mass […]
How to ensure your electric vehicle is powered by renewable energy
By Brady Jones Medill Reports Driving an electric vehicle plays a critical role in reducing carbon dioxide emissions, but the impact of this reduction gets diminished if the electricity comes from fossil fuels. The sources of electricity used to power your car must be green too and several choices are available to make that happen. […]
Chicago coalition gets ready for 100 percent renewable energy: A Q & A with Sierra Club Illinois’ Kyra Woods
By Aaron Dorman Medill Reports Kyra Woods intends to help move Chicago towards running on 100 percent renewable energy by 2035. She is in charge of the Sierra Club’s “Ready for 100” commitment in the Illinois chapter to help the city do just that. As part of a kick-off event on Tuesday at Uptake in […]
