Hurricane’s tiny earthquakes could help forecasters

 Science News, August 2015

As Sandy raged, the ground trembled. Rumbles picked up by seismometers during Hurricane Sandy’s trip up the U.S. East Coast in 2012 originated from the storm’s eye, seismologists report in a paper to be published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth. Listening for these rumbles could help meteorologists remotely monitor air pressure changes inside hurricanes and better predict sudden increases in storm intensity, the researchers propose.

Katrina’s legacy: Refining hurricane forecasting

 Science News, August 2015

Ten years ago, the sea and sky rallied to unleash one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history. During the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, the most active season on record, 27 named storms —from Arlene to Zeta — swirled into existence. By far the most destructive was Hurricane Katrina.

Carbon cuts could save U.S. farmers billions of dollars

 Science News, August 2015

U.S. agriculture could reap big benefits from curbed carbon emissions. Such cuts would reduce the frequency and severity of future crop-parching droughts, saving American farmers billions of dollars annually by 2100, researchers calculate in the July issue of Weather, Climate and Society.

Iceless Arctic summers now expected by 2050s

 Science News, August 2015

Santa Claus could be treading water sooner than thought. An improved forecast of Arctic sea ice coverage predicts that the region will have its first ice-free summer almost a decade earlier than previously projected.

Carbon dating may soon lead to mismatches

 Science News, July 2015

The accuracy of carbon dating may soon be a thing of the past. Carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels threaten the method’s ability to definitively pinpoint the age of organic materials, new research suggests. The extra carbon flooding the atmosphere dilutes the relative number of radioactive carbon atoms that are vital to the dating method. By 2050, the age of fresh organic matter will appear indistinguishable from material created in A.D. 1050, predicts Heather Graven, an atmospheric scientist at Imperial College London.