Many countries are making progress on improving water sanitation and protecting marine ecosystems. But air pollution continues as a leading health problem in many nations, and fisheries are deteriorating almost everywhere.

Earth’s global surface temperatures in 2017 ranked as the second warmest since reliable instrumental records began in 1880, according to an analysis by NASA GISS released today.

Climate scientists at Columbia University have developed a new, global hurricane model for estimating the long-term hazard of rare, high impact storms under different climate scenarios. The researchers hope the new system will lead to storm risk and hazard assessments for major cities.

Deepti Singh, a Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory post-doctoral fellow, believes the reasons for the recent big chill and powerful snowstorm may be linked to climate change — and this is only the beginning of the weather impacts humanity can expect.

When permafrost warms and thaws, it releases carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere. As the global thermostat rises, permafrost, rather than storing carbon, could become a significant source of planet-heating emissions.