Environment

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Cacti are surprisingly fragile – and five other intriguing facts about these spiky wonders

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18 November 202415 November 2024

Few plant families are as iconic as the resilient, spiky cactus, thriving in the driest deserts and as well as decorating our offices and homes. Their success in both environments...Read More >

Will the Earth warm by 2°C or 5.5°C? Either way it’s bad, and trying to narrow it down may be a distraction

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18 October 202425 October 2024

Climate change is usually discussed in terms of rising temperatures. But scientists often use a different measure, known as “equilibrium climate sensitivity”. This is defined as the global mean warming...Read More >

NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft will investigate whether an icy moon of Jupiter can support alien life

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8 October 202425 October 2024

NASA/JPL-Caltech/Seti Institute Discovering extraterrestrial life would be one of the most profound scientific and philosophical revelations that our species has ever made. But such a big discovery won’t come easy....Read More >

South Sudan floods: the first example of a mass population permanently displaced by climate change?

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19 September 202419 September 2024

Enormous floods have once again engulfed much of South Sudan, as record water-levels in Lake Victoria flow downstream through the Nile. More than 700,000 people have been affected. Hundreds of...Read More >

Victorian technology for measuring the weather is still remarkably accurate – new research

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2 September 202419 August 2024

A small, white box with horizontal slats is a familiar sight at weather stations around the UK, and around the world. This louvred housing for thermometers measuring air temperature was...Read More >

Inspiring action on climate change through engaging science

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29 August 202413 August 2024

Professor Richard Allan of the Department of Meteorology came runner up in the 2024 Research Awards in Public Engagement for Research, thanks to his efforts using storytelling to communicate climate...Read More >

Earth has just ended a 13-month streak of record heat – here’s what to expect next

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16 August 202416 August 2024

A 13-month streak of record-breaking global warmth has ended. From June 2023 until June 2024, air and ocean surface water temperatures averaged a quarter of a degree Celsius higher than...Read More >

Representing the Effect of Eddy-Wind Interactions in Future Climate Models

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12 July 202412 July 2024

The global ocean plays an important role in regulating the Earth's climate. Throughout the oceans exist energetic rotating currents, known as ocean eddies. Their diameter ranges from 10 km near...Read More >

Average months now feel cold thanks to climate change

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9 July 20249 July 2024

People in the UK love discussing the weather. For the first two weeks of June 2024, the cold, dull conditions were all they could talk about. Major news outlets like...Read More >

Why we’re hunting through a century of data from Britain’s northernmost observatory

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26 June 2024

Built in 1913 as a naval radio station, the Shetland Isles’ Met Office at Lerwick provides the temperature reading you see on the top right-hand corner of the UK weather...Read More >