Australia's coal mines are pouring methane gas into the atmosphere

Mar 08, 2016 23:37 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature

Methane emissions are one of the major concerns surrounding coal seam gas. But we should also be paying attention to other sources of methane, in particular those from coal mining. By dealing with these we could make...

Chasing ice: how ice cores shape our understanding of ancient climate

Mar 07, 2016 04:17 am UTC| Nature

It is just over 50 years since French scientist Claude Lorius dropped some glacier ice in his whisky and started a quest that continues today. Lorius was studying glaciers in Antarctica and wondered if the air bubbling out...

Sydney, so hot right now: what's behind the city's record run of warm weather?

Mar 07, 2016 03:14 am UTC| Nature

Sydney is hot. Well technically, its persistently warm and lacking cool outbreaks, but this run of weather is no less remarkable for that. The city has had a record 31 straight days above 26℃ (and counting), smashing...

Climate Change Series

It's not 'doom and gloom' to point out what's really happening to coral reefs

Mar 04, 2016 00:43 am UTC| Insights & Views Nature

If you read The Australian or Britains The Times this week, you might have concluded that concerns about ocean warming and acidification are all a big beat-up. Based on a study of the expert literature, the newspapers...

Why are so many people still living in flood-prone cities?

Mar 01, 2016 16:34 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature

Over the last 30 years, floods have killed more than 500,000 people globally, and displaced about 650m more. In a recent paper published by the Centre for Economic Performance, we examined why so many people are hit by...

What California can learn from Australia’s 15-year millennium drought

Feb 26, 2016 00:51 am UTC| Insights & Views Nature

California has experienced, over the past few years, its most severe drought on record. In response to worsening conditions, Governor Jerry Brown announced the first ever statewide mandatory reduction in urban water use in...

How ice sheets collapse: a lesson from the past

Feb 18, 2016 14:49 pm UTC| Insights & Views Nature

Antarctica and Greenland may be two of the most remote places on Earth but what happens in both these vast landscapes can significantly impact on human activity further afield. Recent changes seen in vast ice sheets...