Press Release Archives - State of the Planet

1,000-Plus Years of Tree Rings Confirm Historic Extremity of 2021 Western North America Heat Wave

Scientists quickly pronounced the summer 2021 heat wave that hit western North America to be unprecedented, but they had no long-term physical proof. Now they do.

by |March 27, 2023

Cutting Confederate Ties, the U.S. Navy Names Ships for a Pioneering Female Oceanographer and a Daring Enslaved Pilot

Marie Tharp was a marine scientist in a man’s world. Robert Smalls was a skilled sailor, but held as a slave. Both are now being honored by the U.S. Navy.

by |March 16, 2023

Website Tracks Inflation Reduction Act’s Climate Provisions

IRAtracker.org is a free resource that includes a searchable database of the bill’s climate change-related provisions and actions taken by federal agencies to implement those provisions.

More Frequent Atmospheric Rivers Are Hindering the Recovery of Arctic Sea Ice

Giant trains of warm, moist air are playing havoc with Arctic sea ice during the season when it should be recovering from summer melting.

by |February 6, 2023
banyan tree in forest

Restoring Land for Livelihoods Can Have Ecological Benefits, Study Suggests

Acoustic recorders detected promising changes in the soundscape after a restoration project in India.

by |January 26, 2023
David Kohlstedt of the University of Minnesota has won the 2023 Vetlesen Prize for achievement in the earth sciences. (Courtesy David Kohlstedt)

Explorer of Deep Earth Wins Vetlesen Prize

Using sophisticated equipment, David Kohlstedt has recreated the pressure, temperature and chemical conditions in the Earth’s mantle, which humans cannot observe directly. His findings have laid the basis for understanding many of the processes that drive the planet’s dynamics.

by |January 24, 2023

2022 Tied for Fifth Warmest Year

Last year saw a continuation of the long-term rise in the planet’s average temperature.

by |January 13, 2023

New York City’s Greenery Absorbs a Surprising Amount of Its Carbon Emissions

A hyper-local study of vegetation shows that the city’s trees and grass often cancel out all the CO2 released from cars, trucks and buses on summer days.

by |January 5, 2023

A Study Offers New Insights Into the Record 2021 Western North America Heat Wave

Several weeks during summer 2021 saw heat records in the western United States and Canada broken not just by increments, but by tens of degrees, an event of unprecedented extremity. To what degree was it climate change, bad luck, or a combination?

by |November 24, 2022

Building Green Energy Facilities May Produce Substantial Carbon Emissions, Says Study

Moving from fossil fuels to solar panels, wind turbines and other renewable energy sources will by itself create a new stream of carbon emissions with the construction so much new infrastructure. The good news: Speeding the transition would greatly reduce this effect.

by |November 21, 2022