In an era of increasing climate instability, the southwestern region in the United States faces strained water resources, greater prevalence of tree-killing pests and potentially significant alterations of agricultural infrastructure. Such threats and challenges, as well as others, are detailed in the Assessment of Climate Change in the Southwest United States, a new book published by Island Press. 

 

 

The article, "High-Latitude Ocean and Sea Ice Surface Fluxes: Challenges for Climate Research" was published in the March Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS) issue and is now available online.

The Fourth WMO/IOC Data Buoy Cooperation Panel (DBCP) Western Indian Ocean Capacity Building Workshop will be hosted by Tanzania's Meteorological Agency (TMA) and Institute for Marine Sciences (IMS) on April 29-May 3, 2013, in Zanzibar, Tanzania. The goal of the workshop is to demonstrate the socio-economic value and benefits of new Indian Ocean Observing systems in reducing disaster risk such as from droughts and floods, managing fisheries, and improving predictive capacity for the Western Indian Ocean States.

A new assessment report interprets potential futures regarding climate change and the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary. The report is now available online. 

At its peak last summer, moderate to extreme drought gripped 61 percent of the Lower 48, but a "flash drought" brought exceptionally intense conditions to the Central Great Plains. Today, a new report by the NOAA Drought Task Force and the NOAA-led National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) finds natural variations in weather patterns caused this sudden “flash drought,” and is rules out global ocean conditions, as well as human-induced climate change, as major culprits.