The risk associated with any climate change impact reflects intensity of natural hazard and level of human vulnerability. Previous work has shown that a wet-bulb temperature of 35°C can be considered an upper limit on human survivability. On the basis of an ensemble of high-resolution climate change simulations, we project that extremes of wet-bulb temperature in South Asia are likely to approach and, in a few locations, exceed this critical threshold by the late 21st century under the business-as-usual scenario of future greenhouse gas emissions. The most intense hazard from extreme future heat waves is concentrated around densely populated agricultural regions of the Ganges and Indus river basins. Climate change, without mitigation, presents a serious and unique risk in South Asia, a region inhabited by about one-fifth of the global human population, due to an unprecedented combination of severe natural hazard and acute vulnerability.
For years, researchers thought an infectious pathogen was behind sea star wasting disease. A new study found that multiple species of bacteria deplete oxygen from the water effectively suffocating sea stars. These microbes thrive when there are high levels of organic matter in warm water and create the low oxygen conditions.
Orca whales appear to be killing great white sharks and eating their livers and, in some cases, their hearts.
As climate change opens new regions to mosquitoes, Nepal suffers an outbreak of the painful viral disease that has sickened more than 9,000 people.
Belugas and narwhals can apparently breed. Scientists have confirmed the only known specimen of beluga-narwhal hybrid.
Which is worse: getting eaten, or drowning? Read on.
Quriyat, Oman just blasted past a 24-hour minimum-temperature record, beating the previous "highest low," which was also set in Oman.
Scientists scramble to explain unusual bloom of Sargassum
That's right, California sea lions. As populations of native Steller sea lions decline, Maniscalco says a growing number of California sea lions are showing up on Steller sea lion rookeries and haul-outs across the state. According to his research, some 33 sightings have been recorded. And some of those California sea lions have made their way as far west as the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea.
The highly pathogenic influenza that just claimed its first known polar bear victim continues to circulate in the world’s wild populations.
With Anchorage schools remote again due to a 17-inch snowfall and strong winds, another storm is hitting Southcentral Alaska, potentially causing power outages as trees fall on electric lines.
Scientists with the U.S. Forest Service believe that the blackheaded budworm, whose numbers surged over the past three years, is now in decline.
Twenty-three of the 25 fires so far this year were ignited by human activity. While this year’s heavy snowpack and cold spring pushed back the start to fire season in many parts of the state, climate change is generally causing an earlier snowmelt, said climatologist Rick Thoman.
A drainage culvert beneath the street failed, causing the sinkhole.
Kivalina has long dealt with climate change-driven erosion. While the village didn’t feel the effects of heavy flooding, residents are wary of a future with heavy autumn storms.
Alaska wildlife officials collaborated with whale experts to successfully rescue a humpback whale that was entangled in crabbing gear off the coast of Gustavus, Alaska, preventing it from dying.
Scientists from the University of Alaska Fairbanks have observed an increase in chum salmon spawning in North Slope rivers, potentially indicating a shift in their population and a signal of climate change. Elizabeth Lindley, a Ph.D. student working on the project, says that while evidence of spawning in a new region may be a positive for salmon, the impact on important subsistence resources including Arctic char and Dolly Varden is uncertain.
The grounding ruptured one of the tug’s fuel tanks, which can hold around 13,000 gallons of diesel fuel.
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