Acquired November 23, 2009, this true-color image shows wave clouds formed by air currents passing over the South Sandwich Islands. The islands anchor the V-shaped clouds that spread out toward the east.

NASA mission managers are assessing options for future operations of the venerable QuikScat satellite following the age-related failure of a mechanism that spins the scatterometer antenna.

Increasing temperatures at high altitudes are fueling the post-1950 growth spurt seen in bristlecone pines, the world's oldest trees, according to new research. (University of Arizona press release)

The strongest evidence yet that the rise in atmospheric CO2 emissions continues to outstrip the ability of the world's natural "sinks" to absorb carbon is published this week. (University of East Anglia press release)

Despite the economic effects of the global financial crisis, carbon dioxide emissions from human activities rose 2 percent in 2008 to an all-time high of 1.3 tons of carbon per capita per year, according to a paper published today. (CSIRO

A new study suggests that the oceans are struggling to keep up with rising emissions - a finding with potentially wide implications for future climate. (The Earth Institute at Columbia University press release)

Roughly 15,000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age, North America's vast assemblage of large animals -- including such iconic creatures as mammoths, mastodons, camels, horses, ground sloths and giant beavers -- began their precipitous slide to

A new study of Antarctica's past climate reveals that temperatures during the warm periods between ice ages (interglacials) may have been higher than previously thought. (British Antarctic Survey press release)

A research team has found a clever way to use traditional GPS satellite signals to measure snow depth as well as soil and vegetation moisture, a technique expected to benefit meteorologists, water resource managers, climate modelers and farmers. (University of

A new calculation of Europe's greenhouse gas balance shows that emissions of methane and nitrous oxide tip the balance and eliminate Europe's terrestrial sink of greenhouse gases. (Max-Planck-Gesellschaft press release)

New data show that the balance between the airborne and the absorbed fraction of CO2 has stayed approximately constant since 1850, despite emissions of CO2 having risen from about 2 billion tons a year in 1850 to 35 billion tons

The global ocean covering the Earth 3.4 billion years ago was far cooler than has been thought, according to researchers who analyzed isotope ratios in rocks formed on that ancient ocean floor. (Stanford University press release)

Satellite observations and a state-of-the art regional atmospheric model have independently confirmed that the Greenland ice sheet is losing mass at an accelerating rate, reports a new study. (University of Bristol press release)

Researchers observed short-term fluctuations in the spatial distribution of the ocean water masses, and the results are important for improved climate models. (Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres press release)

Spurred by a warming climate, daily record high temperatures occurred twice as often as record lows over the last decade across the continental United States, new research shows. (NCAR/UCAR press release)

Rising water temperatures are kicking up more powerful winds on Lake Superior, with consequences for currents, biological cycles, pollution and more on the world's largest lake and its smaller brethren. (University of Wisconsin-Madison press release)

Imagine cutting retractable doors in the side of a 747 airliner, installing a 17-ton telescope, and flying to the stratosphere to solve one of astronomy's greatest puzzles. That's what NASA and the German Aerospace Center plan to do with a

The argument that the Moon is a dry, desolate place no longer holds water. At a press conference today, researchers revealed data from NASA's LCROSS mission indicating that water exists in a permanently shadowed lunar crater.

On Monday, NASA will begin transmitting commands to its Mars exploration rover Spirit as part of an escape plan to free the venerable robot from its Martian sand trap.

peaks on Nov. 17th with a sprinkling of meteors over North America and a possible outburst over Asia.