On Aug. 8 atmospheric scientists from NOAA and NASA got a rare look at "fire clouds" as they were forming. NASA Earth Observatory image by Joshua Steven
A bleak new federal report found that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere rose to levels the world has not seen in at least 800,000 years, highlighting the irreversible and mounting deleterious effects of human activity on the planet, as ABC News reported.
An aerial view of Thwaites glacier, which shows growth of gaps between the ice and bedrock. Nasa / Jeremy Harbeck
A glacier the size of Florida is melting much faster than expected and may soon trigger a 50cm, or 19.6 inches, rise in sea level, according to a new NASA-funded study published online by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Mary Robinson and Maeve Higgins host the Mothers of Invention podcast. Mothers of Invention
Most days, the news on climate can be tough. Carbon dioxide levels reaching new heights. Glaciers melting even faster than we thought. White House officials celebrating the prospect of an ice-free Arctic. Not a whole lot of good ways to spin these.
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A satellite image of Antarctica's Pine Island glacier, which is melting at five times 1990s levels. Planet Observer / Getty Images
Yet another study has shown that glaciers in Antarctica are melting at accelerating rates.
Almost 25 percent of the West Antarctic ice shelf is now thinning, and the Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers are losing ice at five times the rate they were in the early 1990s, CNN reported.
The front of the Ross Ice Shelf floats in the Ross Sea, as seen from the cockpit of an LC130 aircraft flown by the New York Air National Guard. Matt Siegfried / Flikr
Parts of the world's largest ice shelf are melting 10 times faster than the shelf's average rate, and this could have worrying implications for sea level rise.
The finding is part of a study of the Ross Ice Shelf, a block of ice about the size of France, which plays an important role in stabilizing the rest of Antarctica, as BBC News reported.
