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(Credit: John McColgan/BLM's Alaska Fire Service/Wikimedia Commons)

Wildfire Stock

Lacy Schley

June 2017

Humans vs. Lightning: What Causes U.S. Wildfires?

A study led by Dartmouth researchers shows that microscopic marine animals called zooplankton (pictured) can be enticed to ingest organic carbon particulates in seawater that are later confined to the deep ocean in the animals' feces. The researchers found that clay sprayed on the water's surface bonds with the carbon, creating sticky balls that become part of the ravenous little creatures' daily smorgasbord. (Credit: Mukul Sharma/Dartmouth)


carbon capturers

Leveraging the food of tiny phytoplankton could trap carbon and sequester it to the ocean’s bottom.

Poop of the Ocean’s Tiniest Organisms Could Combat Climate Change

fire

Windblown embers can trigger spot fires much further away than expected. Now a new mathematical model of the way the wind interacts with firebrands explains why. 

Why Controlled Burns Sometimes Mutate into Runaway Wildfires  

Only a tiny percentage of the globe experienced cooler than normal temperatures during January through October. As the red and pink colors in this map of the globe show, almost all of Earth's surface was unusually warm — and a significant portion, including North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Oceania, was record warm. (Credit: NOAA)

Feverish Earth

This year likely will end as warmest on record, and new findings show Earth's icy places are suffering. Meanwhile, CO2 emissions continue rising — and efforts to turn the climatic tide are increasingly threatened.

As International Climate Talks Devolve Into A "Circus," Unsettling News About Global Heating Emerges

A researcher looks out at Arctic sea ice in polar winter. (Credit: Łukas Piotrowski/National Snow and Ice Data Center)

The Arctic at Night

Even as winter takes hold in the Arctic, sea ice there is growing sluggishly. In Antarctica, summer’s arrival has driven sea ice to near-record lows.

A Warming Climate Continues to Ravage Sea Ice at Both Poles

Simulated 3D visualizations like this, powered by cutting-edge high performance computing systems, are helping researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory improve the performance of wind turbines that generate electricity. How we vote will help determine whether the pace of job-creating energy innovation will quicken, stall, or fall. (Credit: Werner Slocum, NREL)

Renewable Energy Innovation

Worried about the economy, but climate change isn't high on your list of concerns? Keep reading...

If You're Still Unsure Who to Vote For, These Two Simple Charts Could Help You Decide

Humans vs. Lightning: What Causes U.S. Wildfires?

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