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Iceland Battles a Lava Flow: Countries Have Built Barriers and Tried Explosives in the Past, but It’s Hard to Stop Molten Rock
Fountains of lava erupted from the Sundhnúkur volcanic system in southwest Iceland on Jan. 14, 2024, invading the outskirts of the coastal town of Grindavík. Humans have tried many ways to stop lava in the past, from attempting to freeze it in place by cooling it with sea water, to using explosives to disrupt its supply, to building earthen barriers. It’s too soon to say if Iceland’s earthworks will succeed in saving Grindavík, a town of about 3,500 residents, and a nearby geothermal power plant.
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How to Prevent America’s Aging Buildings from Collapsing – 4 High-Profile Disasters Send a Warning
Many cities have buildings showing signs of aging and in need of repair. Four recent catastrophic building collapses and a near miss are raising concerns about the state of America’s aging buildings and questions about who, if anyone, is checking their safety.
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Texas Regulators Limit Oil and Gas Disposal Wells in Bid to Reduce Earthquakes in West Texas
Injecting saltwater back into the ground “is likely contributing to recent seismic activity,” the Railroad Commission of Texas has said.
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2023’s Billion-Dollar Disasters List Shattered the U.S. Record with 28 Big Weather and Climate Disasters Amid Earth’s Hottest Year on Record
The U.S. set an unwelcome record for weather and climate disasters in 2023, with 28 disasters that exceeded more than US$1 billion in damage each. While it wasn’t the most expensive year overall – the costliest years included multiple hurricane strikes – it had the highest number of billion-dollar storms, floods, droughts and fires of any year since counting began in 1980, with six more than any other year, accounting for inflation.
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Coastal Populations Set to Age Sharply in the Face of Climate Migration
As climate change fuels sea level rise, younger people will migrate inland, leaving aging coastal populations — and a host of consequences — in their wake. While destination cities will work to sustainably accommodate swelling populations, aging coastal communities will confront stark new challenges.
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Extreme Weather Cost $80 Billion in 2023. The True Price Is Far Higher.
The U.S. saw 25 billion-dollar weather disasters in 2023 — more than ever before. 2024 could be worse. Congress has long punted on reforming FEMA and the nation’s disaster relief policy, but it’s only a matter of time before there’s a disaster bad enough that legislators feel pressure to act. That catastrophe didn’t arrive in in 2023, but it is surely coming.
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Number of People Affected by Tropical Cyclones Has Increased Sharply Since 2002
The number of people affected by tropical cyclones has nearly doubled from 2002 to 2019, reaching nearly 800 million people in 2019, according to a new study. More people are affected by tropical cyclones in Asia than any other region, but every affected world region saw an increase in the number of people exposed to tropical cyclones, which are expected to become more intense and possibly more frequent as the climate warms.
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Future Floods: Global Warming Intensifies Heavy Rain – Even More Than Expected
The intensity and frequency of extreme rainfall increases exponentially with global warming, a new study finds. The study shows that state-of-the-art climate models significantly underestimate how much extreme rainfall increases under global warming – meaning that extreme rainfall could increase quicker than climate models suggest.
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From NYC to D.C. and Beyond, Cities on the East Coast Are Sinking
Major cities on the U.S. Atlantic coast are sinking, in some cases as much as 5 millimeters per year – a decline at the ocean’s edge that well outpaces global sea level rise. Particularly hard hit population centers such as New York City and Long Island, Baltimore, and Virginia Beach and Norfolk are seeing areas of rapid “subsidence,” or sinking land, alongside more slowly sinking or relatively stable ground, increasing the risk to roadways, runways, building foundations, rail lines, and pipelines.
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UK Urged to Get Ready for Disaster with New National Crises Plan – but Our Research Reveals the Dark Side of Prepping
Preppers – those who store food, water and supplies to survive impending disaster – have a bit of an image problem. Ridiculed for their delusional end-of-the world outlook, they are caricatured as “tin foil hat-wearing loons”. But is their approach to self-sufficiency so extreme? In the context of looming (and actual) threats from climate disruption, extreme weather, global pandemics, cyberattacks, and AI have led the UK government to launch its ambitious resilience framework.
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In Coastal Communities, Sea Level Rise May Leave Some Isolated
Amid the threat of dramatic sea level rise, coastal communities face unprecedented dangers, but a new study reveals that as flooding intensifies, disadvantaged populations will be the ones to experience some of the most severe burdens of climate change.
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Evolution Might Stop Humans from Solving Climate Change
Central features of human evolution may stop our species from resolving global environmental problems like climate change, says a new study. Can humans continue to survive on a limited planet? “We don’t have any solutions for this idea of a long-term evolutionary trap, as we barely understand the problem,” says one expert.
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Enhancing Coastal Cities' Flood Resilience Through Smart City Technologies
In the face of climate change, a suite of advanced technologies can be integrated into urban design to reduce the flood risk posed by rising sea levels, more intense rainfall events, and more powerful storm surges.
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Costs of the Climate Crisis: An Insurance Umbrella for Nations at Risk
International study in the run-up to COP28: Public-private partnerships may help protect developing countries from the financial consequences of climate change.
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New Insights on Community Resilience and Adaptation
A major weather event such as a hurricane or wildfire can have lasting, visible impacts on communities, but the longer-term, compounding effects of a changing climate can be harder to see. There are ways that communities can adapt and become more resilient as the climate changes.
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The long view
Postfire Debris Flows May Become Predictable, Thanks to a New Study
Scientists at Los Alamos have developed a model framework to better predict events such as landslides. The framework is making simulations faster and more accurate, which in turn will improve safety for communities that are at risk of their infrastructure being washed away.