University of California, Irvine

While our planet’s average annual temperature has increased at a steady pace in recent decades, there has been an alarming jump in the severity of the hottest days of the year during that same period, with the most lethal effects in the world’s largest cities.

An increase in mean temperature of 0.5 degrees Celsius over half a century was enough to double the probability of a heat wave killing in excess of 100 people in India, according to researchers. his could have grim implications for the future, because mean temperatures are projected to rise by 2.2 to 5.5 degrees Celsius by the end of this century in the low- and mid-latitude countries.

Global climate change is being felt in many coastal communities of the United States, often as small scale nuisance flooding. According to researchers at the University of California, Irvine, rising sea levels will cause these smaller events to become increasingly frequent in the future and their cumulative effect will be comparable to extreme events such as Hurricane Katrina or Superstorm Sandy.

A new mobile app allows users to see on their device the same precision rainfall information that climate researchers and weather forecasters use. The app provides timely satellite rain data from a network of precipitation-sensing satellites, via University of California, Irvine's globally recognised weather tracking and analysis system.

These glaciers already contribute significantly to sea level rise, releasing almost as much ice into the ocean annually as the entire Greenland Ice Sheet. They contain enough ice to raise global sea level by 4 feet (1.2 meters) and are melting faster than most scientists had expected...