climate change

photo: Ben Tubby

Dee Boersma disputes a study finding that tagged penguins have a lower rates of survival and reproduction. The study, she says, only tested one type of band, while she previously found another type to be safe. The dispute has implications for collecting data on penguins, which are key to understanding effects of climate change.

photo: Harley D. Nygren, NOAA

Sea ice cover in the Arctic dropped this year to the third-lowest level on record, according to the Arctic Report Card prepared by a team of 69 researchers in eight countries, including Martin Sharp (2008). The researchers found that the three lowest ice covers occurred in the last four years. They also noted that sea ice loss leads to changes in wind patterns that cause stronger winter storms, like last winter's Northeast snowstorms.

photo: Lonnie Thompson, NOAA

The evidence backing man-made climate change has kept growing for years, and the time to act is now, according to an op-ed by Lisa Graumlich (1999), Chris Field (2000), and others. They write, "The urgent need to act cannot be overstated," and "The biggest question is what choices we and our children should make about energy use."

photo: NASA

NASA's first ocean expedition is plowing through Arctic sea ice to find out how rising temperatures are affecting Earth's coldest ocean and the plants and animals that live there. Kevin Arrigo (2009), the expedition's chief scientist, sums up what spurs the expedition: "We're beginning to understand how the melting of Arctic sea ice is related to climate change. Unfortunately, we know very little about what these changes have in store for Arctic marine life." Many of the 59 researchers are blogging their progress.