Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Europe is dealing with a debilitating heatwave, with schools closed, trains cancelled and France holding an emergency meeting after heat-related deaths. António Guterres, the UN chief, is urging the world to act on fossil fuels as the continent braces for record-breaking heat. Lucy Hough speaks to Europe environment correspondent Ajit Niranjan Continue reading...

French weather service says temperature hit 44.3C in Pissos as heat forces Louvre and Eiffel Tower to close early Europe heatwave live – latest updates France has registered its hottest day on record as 40 people across the country were confirmed to have drowned while swimming in unsupervised areas over the last few days. “There is a tragic scourge of drownings,” prime minister Sébastien Lecornu said on Tuesday. “The latest figures we’ve received are 40 deaths since 18 June. Most of the victims are young people.” Continue reading...

The administration interrupted data streams that are key to forecasting. These systems should not be vulnerable to political whims In 1877, North Americans experienced an unusually mild winter – it was known as the “year without a winter”. It coincided with one of the strongest El Niño events ever recorded. Scientists suspect the same El Niño was a major factor in one of the worst environmental disasters in history. As much of the world was enveloped in drought, harvests collapsed in India, China, parts of Africa, and Brazil. The drought, compounded by colonial and other socioeconomic policies, led to the “Great Famine”, which killed between 30 and 60 million people, about 3% of the world’s population at the time. What distinguishes us from the victims of 1877 is not luck but data. When I served as deputy administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, I saw modern ocean monitoring and forecasting provide the advance warnings the Victorians lacked. This lead time saves thousands of lives and billions of dollars each year. Today, we can anticipate climate shocks before they arrive. Terry Garcia is a former deputy administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Continue reading...

Study warns AI datacenters are vulnerable to the climate hazards that their global greenhouse gas emissions bolster Amid rising concern that the artificial intelligence boom is fueling the climate crisis, a new report has found that nearly 80% of datacenters are also exposed to extreme climate hazards, including flooding, extreme winds and wildfires. Those impacts are leaving the infrastructure vulnerable to disrupted operations, increased time offline and inflated insurance and repair costs, the research from climate risk analytics firm First Street shows. Continue reading...