climate change

FSU researcher rooting out the errors in storm simulation models

Published: September 11, 2018 | 12:44 pm | Posted in: Science & Technology

On the eve of every hurricane season, climatologists around the world offer their studied prognostications: Will we see high activity? Low activity? How will ocean temperature affect storm development? What are the chances of a powerful storm making landfall? Scientists have leveraged improved climate models to simulate tropical cyclone behavior with an ever-increasing degree of […]

In warming Arctic, major rivers show surprising changes in carbon chemistry

Published: August 28, 2018 | 2:31 pm | Posted in: Science & Technology

In two major Arctic rivers, a changing climate and shifting human activities are provoking a surprising response. (Credit: Norman Kuring, NASA)

Over the past several decades, the Arctic has begun to show signs of significant ecological upheaval. The rate of warming in the Arctic is nearly twice the global average, and those changes are triggering a cascade of destabilizing environmental effects. Ice is melting, permafrost is thawing, and experts say fires in Arctic forests are as […]

Tropical treetops are warming, putting sensitive species at risk

Published: July 26, 2018 | 11:08 am | Posted in: Science & Technology

Perched in towers high above the treetops, Pau and her team had a panoramic view of the forest canopies.

The vaulted canopies that tower above Earth’s rich tropical forests could be especially vulnerable to climate change-related temperature increases, according to a new report from Florida State University researchers. In a study published in the journal Ecosphere, scientists found temperatures in the forest canopies of Panama’s Barro Colorado Island exceeded maximum air temperatures by as […]

Slimy chemical clues: Changing algae could alter ecosystems

Published: July 23, 2018 | 9:54 am | Posted in: Science & Technology

Coralline algae have a hard skeleton and are often pink, red, purple, yellow or gray-green.

Colorful, hardened algae that dot the ocean floor from Alaska to Mexico often set the tone for which plant and invertebrate species inhabit a given ecological community. But as rising temperatures change the chemistry of ocean waters, a Florida State University researcher said these almost rock-like organisms called coralline algae are changing too. That could […]

Volcanic activity, declining ocean oxygen triggered mass extinction of ancient marine organisms

Published: June 11, 2018 | 3:49 pm | Posted in: Science & Technology

Postdoctoral Researcher Theodore Them (left, holding an extinct fossil sample) and Assistant Professor Jeremy Owens (right, holding a rock core sample). The researchers used the samples to study the global record of oxygenation. Credit: Stephen Bilenky

Global climate change, fueled by skyrocketing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, is siphoning oxygen from today’s oceans at an alarming pace — so fast that scientists aren’t entirely sure how the planet will respond. Their only hint? Look to the past. In a study published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy […]

Life recovered rapidly at impact site of dino-killing asteroid

Published: May 30, 2018 | 1:28 pm | Posted in: Science & Technology

The three hair-covered forms (left) represent species of plankton found inside the crater. The geometric form (bottom left) is a species of algae. Small organisms like these moved into the crater so quickly that bones from animals that were killed by the impact, such as the mosasaur pictured here, may have still been visible. (Credit: Original art by John Maisano, University of Texas Jackson School of Geosciences.)

About 66 million years ago, an asteroid smashed into the Earth triggering a mass extinction that ended the reign of the dinosaurs and snuffed out 75 percent of life. While the asteroid killed off scores of species, a new study from Florida State University scientists, in collaboration with lead researchers from The University of Texas […]

FSU researchers: Urban growth leads to shorter, more intense wet seasons in Florida peninsula

Published: April 9, 2018 | 2:31 pm | Posted in: Science & Technology

A summer storm gathers over Miami. Misra found that large urban areas are experiencing shorter, more intense wet seasons than rural or less developed areas.

New research from Florida State University scientists has found that urban areas throughout the Florida peninsula are experiencing shorter, increasingly intense wet seasons relative to underdeveloped or rural areas. The study, published in the Nature Partner Journal Climate and Atmospheric Science, provides new insight into the question of land development’s effect on seasonal climate processes. […]

FSU researchers: Florida’s climate is changing, and we should all take notice

Published: February 6, 2018 | 4:28 pm | Posted in: Science & Technology

In their book “Florida’s Climate: Changes, Variations & Impacts,” Chassignet and Misra offer a thorough review of the current state of research on Florida’s changing climate.

Climate change is often understood as a global problem with broad effects that are difficult to detect on more narrow local scales. However, Florida State University Professor Eric Chassignet and Associate Professor Vasu Misra, both from the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science, believe that more attention should be paid to state-level effects of […]

Climate change linked to more flowery tropical forests, FSU study shows

Published: January 19, 2018 | 1:21 pm | Posted in: Science & Technology

Pau conducted her research on the remote Barro Colorado Island, located in the middle of the Panama Canal.

New research from a Florida State University scientist has revealed a surprising relationship between surging atmospheric carbon dioxide and flower blooms in a remote tropical forest. FSU researchers studying the rich tropical forests of Panama’s Barro Colorado Island found that climbing rates of carbon dioxide have set the stage for a multidecade increase in overall […]

New Policy Pub sessions focus on climate, health and economic equality

Published: January 10, 2018 | 12:21 pm | Posted in: Education & Society

Policy Pub, the popular public forum series at Backwoods Bistro, returns for three new sessions this semester with topics that address key issues affecting everyone’s lives. The monthly sessions include brief, plain-language talks by faculty of the Florida State University College of Social Sciences and Public Policy followed by questions and discussion from the public. […]

FSU researcher: Ocean acidification means major changes for California mussels

Published: January 5, 2018 | 1:56 pm | Posted in: Science & Technology

McCoy and her team found that increased ocean acidification is affecting California mussel shells on a fundamental structural level. (Photo: Sophie McCoy.)

Accelerating ocean acidification could be transforming the fundamental structure of California mussel shells, according to a new report from a Florida State University-led team of scientists. For thousands of years, California mussel shells have shared a relatively uniform mineralogical makeup — long, cylindrical calcite crystals ordered in neat vertical rows with crisp, geometric regularity. But […]