As the climate system responds to continued increases in heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere, models project that extreme weather events—and the potential for coastal flooding—may increase in intens ...

snow accumulation prior to melting. Because Arctic land areas are almost completely covered in snow before the melting season, variability in the spring snow cover extent is controlled largely by surf ...

of existing data products; to meet the needs of a broad audience, we present the source data in a simplified visual style. This set of snapshots is based on climate data (NClimGrid) produced by and av ...

cases exceptional, drought. The map above shows the difference from normal precipitation received in the United States between October 1, 2010 (the beginning of the West's water year) and August 21, 2 ...

while the extent at September minimum is 13.7 percent per decade. Although ice extent (area in which satellites observe sea ice concentration of at least 15 percent) at winter maximum has declined les ...

records began in 1979. Only 2007 and 2008 have had smaller ice extents than 2009. Sea ice extent in 2009 is shown in light blue, while 2007 and 2008 are shown in red and purple, respectively. The smal ...

to impact land. What does the outlook for the hurricane season look like? Now that we are in June and have passed the official start of the hurricane season, it might be prudent to look back at this y ...

deposited on the rocks while they were covered by water. The Lake Mead reservoir—the largest in the United States—stores Colorado River water for delivery to farms, homes, and businesses in southern N ...

the Earth are documenting a striking change in the Arctic. Not only is open water area increasing in the region, but adjacent land areas are growing "greener." Since observations began in 1982, Arctic ...

For some herds, their current ranges are approaching the low end of their historic extent. In the United States, there are four distinct herds of caribou in Alaska—two that are decreasing in number an ...