New research found that the century-old yardstick used across many industries to estimate air-conditioning and refrigeration energy demand — called cooling degree days — is missing something fundamental. The study reports a new, physics-based version of the metric — effective cooling degree days — that captures how temperature and humidity together impact the actual work a cooling system is required to do. Applying it across North America, they found that cooling efficiency has been quietly declining by 2–4% per decade since 1971, and that the old temperature-only metric misjudges how much cooling is required in different regions, overstating demand in some places and understating it in others.

A new Swansea University study has shown that upstream river management rather than local rainfall is the primary driver of one of the world's most important wetlands. An analysis of two decades of satellite observations revealed the future of Iraq's Mesopotamian Marshes depends far more on the water flowing from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers than on rainfall.

New research led by William & Mary's VIMS & Batten School provides a framework to characterize an ecosystem’s cumulative heat exposure from marine heatwaves and the extended periods of warm water that precede and follow them.

A major new digital mapping project could help safeguard some of the world's most important and well-known heritage sites from rising seas, flooding and coastal erosion.

Researchers have created the Global Coastal Heritage (Glo-CoH) dataset, the first comprehensive digital map of UNESCO World Heritage sites located along coastlines that are less than 20 metres above sea level.

Primary school children equipped with thermal cameras are helping redesign their schools to cope with hotter summers, thanks to a University of Surrey programme that gives pupils the tools to spot dangerous heat hotspots and develop their own cooling solutions. 

New research from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa used high-resolution modeling that includes small-scale processes to examine projected heat stress on coral reefs over the 21st century. Comparing this heat stress to previous estimates of the rate at which corals may adapt to changing conditions, the authors found that Hawaiian corals have the possibility of adapting to future heat stress, even under a high emissions scenario.

Researchers surveyed more than 500 Salt Lake County residents and found that 69% are concerned about the shrinking lake, with habitat loss and dust-related health risks emerging as the top worries. The study also found that concern varies significantly by age, gender, race and ethnicity, birthplace, and people's personal experiences with the lake. Researchers say the findings show how lived experience and background can shape views about rapid, environmental changes, and that policies for the Great Salt Lake will gain stronger public support if they are framed as actions needed to protect wildlife or other key values rather than actions to stabilize water levels.

The mountain jewelflower is struggling to keep up with climate change, as the wildflower fights to survive both summers and winters in the mountains, finds a UC Davis study.