The El Niño in 2026 is on course to become the largest in at least 1,000 years. Scientists have found that even before its peak, it has already shattered temperature records, with a peak at what is yet to come. The latest data shows that the sea surface temperature at the centre of the phenomenon is 3.05 degrees Celsius above the average for 1991–2020. The previous record was 3.02 degrees Celsius set in November 2015. It is not far from a possible peak of 4.1 degrees Celsius in November and December.&nbsp;El Niño has wreaked havoc across the world this year. Heatwaves slammed Europe and the United States, the monsoon pattern in India was disrupted, wildfires engulfed large parts, and floods hit other places. Earlier in the year, scientists had warned that the El Niño this year would be the worst in 150 years. But now it looks set to shatter 1,000-year records.Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/el-ni-o-winter-6-us-states-facing-heavy-snowfall-expert-warns-1788945692662">El Niño winter: 6 US states facing heavy snowfall, expert warns</a>&nbsp;Climate scientists say that every El Niño has continued to strengthen after mid-September, and the same can be expected this year as well. "El Niño typically peaks in the winter months, most commonly in November or December," climate scientist Zeke Hausfather wrote in a blog for Carbon Brief, calling it "remarkable" because of "how early in the calendar year it is occurring."Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/trending/climate-change-is-creating-new-extreme-weather-patterns-worse-no-one-can-predict-them-1789461113937">2026 El Niño will create new extreme weather patterns. Worse, no one can predict them</a>&nbsp;El Niño brought extreme heat, with temperatures touching 45 degrees Celsius in part of Europe. Copernicus Climate Change Service data shows that August 2026 was the warmest one since records started. Global average temperatures for the first eight months of 2026 are already 1.22 degrees Celsius above the average marker.<h2>El Niño winter</h2> NASA, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and climate experts across the world saw El Niño with all signs of becoming strong as the year progresses. It is also expected to bring a brutal winter to the United States, with at least six states expected to witness heavy snowfall. Meanwhile, a few other states will remain dry. California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona are at risk of heavy snowfall triggered by El Niño.Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/trending/el-nino-effect-no-hurricanes-in-atlantic-ocean-a-first-in-60-years-1789624428211">El Niño effect: No hurricanes in Atlantic Ocean till now is a first in 60 years</a><h2>No major Atlantic hurricanes</h2> Meanwhile, the current hurricane season has seen no major developments. It is rare to have no hurricanes until September 15, and experts have also attributed this to this year's El Niño. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data, this is the longest stretch without an Atlantic hurricane since at least 1966.<h2>WMO says El Niño will stay till Feb 2027</h2> El Niño has been underway since June and will last into next year. The WMO warned earlier in September that it will intensify into a very strong event in the coming months, and impact rainfall and temperature patterns, and floods, drought and extreme heat. WMO Forecasts have given it a near 100 per cent chance of persisting through February 2027. &nbsp;

 El Niño 2026 appears to be the strongest the world has seen in 1,000 years. Ocean surface temperatures have already surpassed a three-decade average without even peaking. It will continue to strengthen, meaning the worst is yet to come.

The El Niño in 2026 is on course to become the largest in at least 1,000 years. Scientists have found that even before its peak, it has already shattered temperature records, with a peak at what is yet to come. The latest data shows that the sea surface temperature at the centre of the phenomenon is 3.05 degrees Celsius above the average for 1991–2020. The previous record was 3.02 degrees Celsius set in November 2015. It is not far from a possible peak of 4.1 degrees Celsius in November and December. El Niño has wreaked havoc across the world this year. Heatwaves slammed Europe and the United States, the monsoon pattern in India was disrupted, wildfires engulfed large parts, and floods hit other places. Earlier in the year, scientists had warned that the El Niño this year would be the worst in 150 years. But now it looks set to shatter 1,000-year records. Also Read: El Niño winter: 6 US states facing heavy snowfall, expert warns Climate scientists say that every El Niño has continued to strengthen after mid-September, and the same can be expected this year as well. "El Niño typically peaks in the winter months, most commonly in November or December," climate scientist Zeke Hausfather wrote in a blog for Carbon Brief, calling it "remarkable" because of "how early in the calendar year it is occurring." Also Read: 2026 El Niño will create new extreme weather patterns. Worse, no one can predict them El Niño brought extreme heat, with temperatures touching 45 degrees Celsius in part of Europe. Copernicus Climate Change Service data shows that August 2026 was the warmest one since records started. Global average temperatures for the first eight months of 2026 are already 1.22 degrees Celsius above the average marker. El Niño winter NASA, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and climate experts across the world saw El Niño with all signs of becoming strong as the year progresses. It is also expected to bring a brutal winter to the United States, with at least six states expected to witness heavy snowfall. Meanwhile, a few other states will remain dry. California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona are at risk of heavy snowfall triggered by El Niño. Also Read: El Niño effect: No hurricanes in Atlantic Ocean till now is a first in 60 years No major Atlantic hurricanes Meanwhile, the current hurricane season has seen no major developments. It is rare to have no hurricanes until September 15, and experts have also attributed this to this year's El Niño. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data, this is the longest stretch without an Atlantic hurricane since at least 1966. WMO says El Niño will stay till Feb 2027 El Niño has been underway since June and will last into next year. The WMO warned earlier in September that it will intensify into a very strong event in the coming months, and impact rainfall and temperature patterns, and floods, drought and extreme heat. WMO Forecasts have given it a near 100 per cent chance of persisting through February 2027.

&nbsp;El Niño 2026 appears to be the strongest the world has seen in 1,000 years. Ocean surface temperatures have already surpassed a three-decade average without even peaking. It will continue to strengthen, meaning the worst is yet to come.

El Niño 2026 heats up to become strongest in 1,000 years

Experts have warned that an icy mountain region in the United States could witness a disaster similar to the Nepal floods. Alaska is at risk of a climate change-induced glacial collapse, and it has actually already occurred. Alaska’s Tracy Arm fjord was struck by a "mega-tsunami" 1,578 feet high from a landslide. Scientists have now found that "the rapid retreat of a glacier set the scene for the huge slide and the following mega-tsunami."&nbsp;Tourist cruise ships escaped the disaster by mere hours. Prof Bill McGuire, a climate scientist and professor emeritus at University College London, told the BBC, "It is a threat that is only going to get bigger as the planet gets hotter." He warned that people living in places under these mountain regions and tourists aboard cruise ships face a growing risk from melting glaciers.&nbsp;Patrick Lynett, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Southern California, told the outlet that Alaska's mega-tsunami was linked to rapidly melting glaciers. He has warned that this was definitely not the last such event to hit the region and that they will become increasingly common. "Tracy Arm-type events will continue to happen, seemingly at an increasing rate, in fjords and other water bodies with rapidly retreating glaciers," he said.Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/trending/climate-change-caused-nepal-floods-but-a-2015-earthquake-may-have-contributed-1789630155043">Climate change caused Nepal floods, but a 2015 earthquake may have contributed</a>&nbsp;Rapidly melting glaciers are destabilising mountain slopes, and the warming climate is also thawing permafrost, which in turn loosens the glaciers. Permafrost is ground with rock, soil and ice that remains permanently frozen.<h2>Earthquakes from ice loss</h2>Ice loss in Alaska also sets the stage for earthquakes, as it removes a lot of weight from the crust below. When this happens, faults start moving and can trigger earthquakes, causing "glacier collapse and breach meltwater lakes." McGuire says any region with large amounts of ice is vulnerable going forward, and this "includes Alaska and some of the Rockies, the European Alps and – especially – the Himalayas."Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/trending/11-trillion-tons-of-ice-has-vanished-from-greenland-and-antarctica-1789553793005">11 trillion tons of ice has vanished from Greenland and Antarctica. That's not the worst part</a>&nbsp;Byers says to prevent "a future catastrophic event", cruise companies might have to drop the fjord from their routes. He has called for the development of "effective and locally appropriate early warning systems" to ensure timely action. However, avoiding a disaster might not be entirely possible since ships are already in motion and cannot just turn back.&nbsp;What is needed is a better understanding of where hazards occur and limiting the size or number of ships in a fjord. Satellites can be used to monitor whether slopes are moving. But this may not be foolproof as well, since in heavily glaciated regions some glaciers can move several metres a day. So, in a warming world, more glacier collapses are bound to happen, and predicting them isn't easy to tell. &nbsp;

What happened in Nepal could happen in many other icy mountain regions, experts have warned, including Alaska in the United States. Last year, a landslide unleashed a mega-tsunami, and another one from the sky could be waiting to happen. 

Experts have warned that an icy mountain region in the United States could witness a disaster similar to the Nepal floods. Alaska is at risk of a climate change-induced glacial collapse, and it has actually already occurred. Alaska’s Tracy Arm fjord was struck by a "mega-tsunami" 1,578 feet high from a landslide. Scientists have now found that "the rapid retreat of a glacier set the scene for the huge slide and the following mega-tsunami." Tourist cruise ships escaped the disaster by mere hours. Prof Bill McGuire, a climate scientist and professor emeritus at University College London, told the BBC, "It is a threat that is only going to get bigger as the planet gets hotter." He warned that people living in places under these mountain regions and tourists aboard cruise ships face a growing risk from melting glaciers. Patrick Lynett, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Southern California, told the outlet that Alaska's mega-tsunami was linked to rapidly melting glaciers. He has warned that this was definitely not the last such event to hit the region and that they will become increasingly common. "Tracy Arm-type events will continue to happen, seemingly at an increasing rate, in fjords and other water bodies with rapidly retreating glaciers," he said. Also Read: Climate change caused Nepal floods, but a 2015 earthquake may have contributed Rapidly melting glaciers are destabilising mountain slopes, and the warming climate is also thawing permafrost, which in turn loosens the glaciers. Permafrost is ground with rock, soil and ice that remains permanently frozen. Earthquakes from ice loss Ice loss in Alaska also sets the stage for earthquakes, as it removes a lot of weight from the crust below. When this happens, faults start moving and can trigger earthquakes, causing "glacier collapse and breach meltwater lakes." McGuire says any region with large amounts of ice is vulnerable going forward, and this "includes Alaska and some of the Rockies, the European Alps and – especially – the Himalayas." Also Read: 11 trillion tons of ice has vanished from Greenland and Antarctica. That's not the worst part Byers says to prevent "a future catastrophic event", cruise companies might have to drop the fjord from their routes. He has called for the development of "effective and locally appropriate early warning systems" to ensure timely action. However, avoiding a disaster might not be entirely possible since ships are already in motion and cannot just turn back. What is needed is a better understanding of where hazards occur and limiting the size or number of ships in a fjord. Satellites can be used to monitor whether slopes are moving. But this may not be foolproof as well, since in heavily glaciated regions some glaciers can move several metres a day. So, in a warming world, more glacier collapses are bound to happen, and predicting them isn't easy to tell.

What happened in Nepal could happen in many other icy mountain regions, experts have warned, including Alaska in the United States. Last year, a landslide unleashed a mega-tsunami, and another one from the sky could be waiting to happen.&nbsp;

1,578 feet mega-tsunami in Alaska linked to melting glaciers, and will happen again

A new study has blamed human-induced global warming for the catastrophic Nepal floods, saying the rising temperatures had thawed permafrost and thinned glacier ice that had been holding the mountainside together for centuries. Led by the World Weather Attribution (WWA), the study states that decades of warming had weakened the slope that collapsed on August 26, setting the stage for a disaster that went beyond the capacity of the existing disaster adaptation systems.&nbsp;They also found during their course of the study that the freezing line in the Himalayas has been moving up by 100 metres every decade. This is the point above which the ground remains permanently frozen. After the devastating floods killed over 1,300 people in Nepal and Tibet, scientists have been trying to understand what transpired on the day. Every study done so far has blamed climate change for it. Glaciers are melting in the Himalayas, which can cause similar floods in the future.&nbsp;"Climate warming, as a result of humans burning fossil fuels, is melting ice and snow in the Himalayas, decreasing glacier coverage and thawing permafrost," which destabilises the mountainsides, Bethan Davies, professor of glaciology at Newcastle University, said.<h2>Mechanism of Nepal floods similar to Chamoli disaster</h2>They stated that even though the scale of the disaster was unlike anything seen before, the signs of an imminent threat were always there. &nbsp;Walter Immerzeel, a mountain hydrologist at Utrecht University, told reporters, “The mechanism of the disaster is comparable to what happened in India in Uttarakhand, which is called the Chamoli disaster.”&nbsp;Comparing the two disasters, the team further said that in the Chamoli incident, the material that flowed down was only a fifth of what was seen in Nepal and the impact was much less, making the Nepal tragedy “unprecedented.”<h2>2015 earthquake could have been a reason as well</h2>They also presented another possibility. In 2015, a magnitude-7.8 earthquake struck the Langtang Lirung mountain on Nepal's northern border, where the glacier collapse occurred this year. This may have weakened the slope that gave way in August. The intense shaking of the ground probably damaged the bedrock and increased the number of fractures. However, there is no proof that this happened, Immerzeel said.&nbsp;He added that these two factors combined may have had an impact, although they are sure that the changing climate was definitely responsible for the Nepal disaster.<h2>Hotter monsoon months before Nepal tragedy</h2>The researchers further stated that climate change had increased the temperatures in the months of July and August, which were the highest ever recorded in the region. During the monsoon, it was 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer, and the annual temperature had spiked by nearly 2 degrees Celsius.&nbsp;Professor Friederike Otto of Imperial College London said that even though they did not run a specific attribution model on the Langtang Lirung glacier's thinning, glacier thinning is the only cause of the tragedy that unfolded on August 26. &nbsp;

Thinning glacier, thawing permafrost and an earthquake that struck the mountain in 2015 likely together set the stage for the Nepal floods, a study has found. Scientists say the freezing line in the Himalayas has also moved up, revealing the gravity of the situation.

A new study has blamed human-induced global warming for the catastrophic Nepal floods, saying the rising temperatures had thawed permafrost and thinned glacier ice that had been holding the mountainside together for centuries. Led by the World Weather Attribution (WWA), the study states that decades of warming had weakened the slope that collapsed on August 26, setting the stage for a disaster that went beyond the capacity of the existing disaster adaptation systems. They also found during their course of the study that the freezing line in the Himalayas has been moving up by 100 metres every decade. This is the point above which the ground remains permanently frozen. After the devastating floods killed over 1,300 people in Nepal and Tibet, scientists have been trying to understand what transpired on the day. Every study done so far has blamed climate change for it. Glaciers are melting in the Himalayas, which can cause similar floods in the future. "Climate warming, as a result of humans burning fossil fuels, is melting ice and snow in the Himalayas, decreasing glacier coverage and thawing permafrost," which destabilises the mountainsides, Bethan Davies, professor of glaciology at Newcastle University, said. Mechanism of Nepal floods similar to Chamoli disaster They stated that even though the scale of the disaster was unlike anything seen before, the signs of an imminent threat were always there. Walter Immerzeel, a mountain hydrologist at Utrecht University, told reporters, “The mechanism of the disaster is comparable to what happened in India in Uttarakhand, which is called the Chamoli disaster.” Comparing the two disasters, the team further said that in the Chamoli incident, the material that flowed down was only a fifth of what was seen in Nepal and the impact was much less, making the Nepal tragedy “unprecedented.” 2015 earthquake could have been a reason as well They also presented another possibility. In 2015, a magnitude-7.8 earthquake struck the Langtang Lirung mountain on Nepal's northern border, where the glacier collapse occurred this year. This may have weakened the slope that gave way in August. The intense shaking of the ground probably damaged the bedrock and increased the number of fractures. However, there is no proof that this happened, Immerzeel said. He added that these two factors combined may have had an impact, although they are sure that the changing climate was definitely responsible for the Nepal disaster. Hotter monsoon months before Nepal tragedy The researchers further stated that climate change had increased the temperatures in the months of July and August, which were the highest ever recorded in the region. During the monsoon, it was 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer, and the annual temperature had spiked by nearly 2 degrees Celsius. Professor Friederike Otto of Imperial College London said that even though they did not run a specific attribution model on the Langtang Lirung glacier's thinning, glacier thinning is the only cause of the tragedy that unfolded on August 26.

Thinning glacier, thawing permafrost and an earthquake that struck the mountain in 2015 likely together set the stage for the Nepal floods, a study has found. Scientists say the freezing line in the Himalayas has also moved up, revealing the gravity of the situation.

Climate change caused Nepal floods, but a 2015 earthquake may have contributed

Ice loss at the poles is a reality. But scientists have struggled to know how much of it is already gone. A new study has provided the most detailed analysis of this loss using data gathered by satellites. Published in the journal Scientific Data on Wednesday (Sep 16), the study has revealed that the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have lost 11 trillion tons of ice over the last 50 years. Needless to say, they have led to a rise in sea levels.&nbsp;&nbsp;The bigger problem here is that this has primarily happened because of the melting glaciers and not surface melt. This is when liquid water is produced on the surface of ice sheets, glaciers, and sea ice because of rising air temperatures and solar radiation. The main culprits are the glaciers that are rapidly losing water into the sea.<h2>Satellite observations of the poles</h2>Several satellites monitor the ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, and the observations are used to track ice loss in these regions. Lead author Inès Otosaka, an assistant professor at Northumbria University, told Gizmodo that there are about 50 published estimates of ice loss, each carried out in a different way. To carry out a comprehensive review, the team combined all the independent estimates to create "one dataset and assessment of how the ice sheets have evolved over the past five decades.”Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/trending/extreme-warming-in-indian-ocean-added-695-billion-tons-of-ice-to-antarctica-1789377094316">Extreme warming in Indian Ocean added 695 billion tons of ice to Antarctica ice sheet</a>&nbsp;A total of 42 independent estimates of ice sheet mass balance were used for this, taken from satellite observations of ice sheet flow, volume, and gravitational attraction. This gave them an estimate of how much mass Greenland and Antarctica had lost since the 1970s. The figure that was revealed was shocking. They noted that a combined 11.3 trillion tons of ice has vanished between 1979 and 2023.&nbsp;"If you put that into context, it’s about enough ice to fill a cube that would be 23 kilometres (14 miles) in height," she said. This has caused global average sea levels to rise by about 1 inch. Even though it looks small, the finding indicates that Greenland and Antarctica have become key drivers of sea level rise.&nbsp;How this ice loss was happening was also surprising. Typically, surface melting and outflow are the two methods by which ice loss happens. In the case of Greenand nd Antarctica, the reason was the latter, triggered by ocean temperatures. This suggests that 84 per cent of the combined ice loss from Greenland and Antarctica was happening because of glaciers that were releasing ice into the ocean, while surface melting contributed just 16 per cent.

We know that ice loss has accelerated in the past few years. But a new comprehensive analysis of 50 datasets has revealed that this loss is huge. The primary reason is the melting of the glaciers into the ocean, which shows just how dire the situation is. 

Ice loss at the poles is a reality. But scientists have struggled to know how much of it is already gone. A new study has provided the most detailed analysis of this loss using data gathered by satellites. Published in the journal Scientific Data on Wednesday (Sep 16), the study has revealed that the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have lost 11 trillion tons of ice over the last 50 years. Needless to say, they have led to a rise in sea levels. The bigger problem here is that this has primarily happened because of the melting glaciers and not surface melt. This is when liquid water is produced on the surface of ice sheets, glaciers, and sea ice because of rising air temperatures and solar radiation. The main culprits are the glaciers that are rapidly losing water into the sea. Satellite observations of the poles Several satellites monitor the ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, and the observations are used to track ice loss in these regions. Lead author Inès Otosaka, an assistant professor at Northumbria University, told Gizmodo that there are about 50 published estimates of ice loss, each carried out in a different way. To carry out a comprehensive review, the team combined all the independent estimates to create "one dataset and assessment of how the ice sheets have evolved over the past five decades.” Also Read: Extreme warming in Indian Ocean added 695 billion tons of ice to Antarctica ice sheet A total of 42 independent estimates of ice sheet mass balance were used for this, taken from satellite observations of ice sheet flow, volume, and gravitational attraction. This gave them an estimate of how much mass Greenland and Antarctica had lost since the 1970s. The figure that was revealed was shocking. They noted that a combined 11.3 trillion tons of ice has vanished between 1979 and 2023. "If you put that into context, it’s about enough ice to fill a cube that would be 23 kilometres (14 miles) in height," she said. This has caused global average sea levels to rise by about 1 inch. Even though it looks small, the finding indicates that Greenland and Antarctica have become key drivers of sea level rise. How this ice loss was happening was also surprising. Typically, surface melting and outflow are the two methods by which ice loss happens. In the case of Greenand nd Antarctica, the reason was the latter, triggered by ocean temperatures. This suggests that 84 per cent of the combined ice loss from Greenland and Antarctica was happening because of glaciers that were releasing ice into the ocean, while surface melting contributed just 16 per cent.

We know that ice loss has accelerated in the past few years. But a new comprehensive analysis of 50 datasets has revealed that this loss is huge. The primary reason is the melting of the glaciers into the ocean, which shows just how dire the situation is.&nbsp;

11 trillion tons of ice has vanished from Greenland and Antarctica. That's not the worst part

Scientists have found that climate change is triggering changes in weather conditions linked to El Niño. For example, in 2023 and 2024, the weather phenomenon did not bring as much rain to the southern parts of the United States, nor were the northern portions as dry as they should have been. However, the Amazon region witnessed the worst droughts in 120 years. They now fear that this could become a pattern, and that global warming could disrupt a pair of climate patterns known as a “teleconnection.”&nbsp;Climate scientists with the National Science Foundation’s National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) later determined that as tropical Indian and Atlantic Ocean waters heated from global warming, it offset El Niño’s effects across North America. This disrupted climate patterns, and the effects were visible in those years.Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/trending/extreme-warming-in-indian-ocean-added-695-billion-tons-of-ice-to-antarctica-1789377094316">Extreme warming in Indian Ocean added 695 billion tons of ice to Antarctica ice sheet</a>&nbsp;Bar-Ilan University climate scientist Eran Vos told the journal Nature this month that El Niño conditions will become even more unpredictable in the future. The El Niño this year is the worst in 150 years. Together with global warming, it will become almost impossible to predict how it might behave or alter climate teleconnections.Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/el-ni-o-winter-6-us-states-facing-heavy-snowfall-expert-warns-1788945692662">El Niño winter: 6 US states facing heavy snowfall, expert warns</a> &nbsp;Vos and his team scanned through historic meteorological records to understand how a warming climate impacts El Niño events. They found that between 1960 and 1990, warming patterns created by El Niño across southern Asia and northeast Africa had flipped and had become colder during that time. Meanwhile, in Western Europe, warmer seasons had replaced colder snaps during modern El Niño events.<h2>Super El Niño in 2026 and its effect on weather patterns</h2>The 2026 El Niño is generated by warm ocean temperatures in the eastern Pacific instead of the central Pacific, a first since the late 1990s. It has led to extremely hot conditions across the world. Europe sweltered in the summer as several heatwaves gripped the continent. This extreme form of El Niño is bound to affect weather patterns, but scientists do not have any data from the last three decades to predict the exact changes.Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/trending/climate-change-shows-its-fangs-melting-permafrost-triggered-rockslide-on-arctic-island-1789017698225">Climate change shows its fangs - Melting permafrost triggered rockslide on Arctic island</a>&nbsp;Clara Deser, a senior scientist at NCAR, said about the 2023-24 El Niño season that "historical precedent may no longer be a reliable guide to ENSO teleconnections as anthropogenic warming patterns intensify." No one now knows what the weather in the coming years could be like.

Scientists are worried that climate change could drastically alter how El Niño impacts weather patterns. One region that should be wetter, might turn dry, and a hotter region might witness cold snaps. This has already happened in this decade, and the future might be worse. 

Scientists have found that climate change is triggering changes in weather conditions linked to El Niño. For example, in 2023 and 2024, the weather phenomenon did not bring as much rain to the southern parts of the United States, nor were the northern portions as dry as they should have been. However, the Amazon region witnessed the worst droughts in 120 years. They now fear that this could become a pattern, and that global warming could disrupt a pair of climate patterns known as a “teleconnection.” Climate scientists with the National Science Foundation’s National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) later determined that as tropical Indian and Atlantic Ocean waters heated from global warming, it offset El Niño’s effects across North America. This disrupted climate patterns, and the effects were visible in those years. Also Read: Extreme warming in Indian Ocean added 695 billion tons of ice to Antarctica ice sheet Bar-Ilan University climate scientist Eran Vos told the journal Nature this month that El Niño conditions will become even more unpredictable in the future. The El Niño this year is the worst in 150 years. Together with global warming, it will become almost impossible to predict how it might behave or alter climate teleconnections. Also Read: El Niño winter: 6 US states facing heavy snowfall, expert warns Vos and his team scanned through historic meteorological records to understand how a warming climate impacts El Niño events. They found that between 1960 and 1990, warming patterns created by El Niño across southern Asia and northeast Africa had flipped and had become colder during that time. Meanwhile, in Western Europe, warmer seasons had replaced colder snaps during modern El Niño events. Super El Niño in 2026 and its effect on weather patterns The 2026 El Niño is generated by warm ocean temperatures in the eastern Pacific instead of the central Pacific, a first since the late 1990s. It has led to extremely hot conditions across the world. Europe sweltered in the summer as several heatwaves gripped the continent. This extreme form of El Niño is bound to affect weather patterns, but scientists do not have any data from the last three decades to predict the exact changes. Also Read: Climate change shows its fangs - Melting permafrost triggered rockslide on Arctic island Clara Deser, a senior scientist at NCAR, said about the 2023-24 El Niño season that "historical precedent may no longer be a reliable guide to ENSO teleconnections as anthropogenic warming patterns intensify." No one now knows what the weather in the coming years could be like.

Scientists are worried that climate change could drastically alter how El Niño impacts weather patterns. One region that should be wetter, might turn dry, and a hotter region might witness cold snaps. This has already happened in this decade, and the future might be worse.&nbsp;

2026 El Niño will create new extreme weather patterns. Worse, no one can predict them

Between 2021 and 2023, East Antarctica gained 695 billion tons of ice because of extreme warming in the western Pacific and eastern Indian Ocean. A study published in Nature revealed that this temporary gain was recorded by the GRACE satellites. This happened because the heat in the tropical region altered atmospheric circulation, sending more moisture towards East Antarctica.&nbsp;Over the past two decades, East Antarctica has been losing 140.5 billion tons of ice per year. The 695-billion-ton addition does nothing much to reverse it, and essentially only throws light on how a warming event thousands of kilometres away in a tropical region could affect snowfall and the ice sheet in Antarctica.&nbsp;Researchers led by the Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOCAS) investigated the cause of the ice gain. Observations from a gravity satellite, ice-core snow-accumulation records, water-vapour tracking, and atmospheric circulation simulations were put together to understand the strange occurrence.Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/trending/climate-change-shows-its-fangs-melting-permafrost-triggered-rockslide-on-arctic-island-1789017698225">Climate change shows its fangs - Melting permafrost triggered rockslide on Arctic island</a><h2>Tropical heat drove increase in ice sheet in Antarctica</h2>Their study found that the tropical warm pool at the juncture of the western Pacific and the eastern Indian Ocean was warmer than usual in those years. This triggered a Rossby wave train that moved towards the high southern latitudes, affecting the atmospheric circulation over East Antarctica. Eddy-mean flow feedbacks became stronger and more persistent, leading to a north–south dipole with low-pressure anomalies south of Australia and high-pressure anomalies along the East Antarctic coast.Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/el-ni-o-winter-6-us-states-facing-heavy-snowfall-expert-warns-1788945692662">El Niño winter: 6 US states facing heavy snowfall, expert warns</a>&nbsp;The circulation from this change caused moisture from the midlatitude Indian Ocean to flow towards Antarctica, causing more number of atmospheric rivers to reach the frozen continent. The moist air led to heavy snowfall across the Queen Mary Land–Wilkes Land region, adding mass to the ice sheet. Experiments linked to atmospheric circulation showed that the circulation and the snow were a direct result of the tropical warm pool.&nbsp;"We found a previously underrecognized ‘tropical warm pool–East Antarctic Ice Sheet’ teleconnection pathway," said Yunhe Wang, first author of the study. "Our research provides a theoretical basis for understanding Antarctic ice-sheet mass changes and conducting future research on the East Antarctic climate."&nbsp;The study identified the north–south dipole circulation over East Antarctica as the common link between tropical warming and the increase in the mass of the ice sheet in Antarctica.

While climate change is melting glaciers, the East Antarctic ice sheet grew by nearly 700 billion tons over three years. While that might sound like good news, it is actually proof that global warming can wreak havoc on the planet. Here is what actually happened.

Between 2021 and 2023, East Antarctica gained 695 billion tons of ice because of extreme warming in the western Pacific and eastern Indian Ocean. A study published in Nature revealed that this temporary gain was recorded by the GRACE satellites. This happened because the heat in the tropical region altered atmospheric circulation, sending more moisture towards East Antarctica. Over the past two decades, East Antarctica has been losing 140.5 billion tons of ice per year. The 695-billion-ton addition does nothing much to reverse it, and essentially only throws light on how a warming event thousands of kilometres away in a tropical region could affect snowfall and the ice sheet in Antarctica. Researchers led by the Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOCAS) investigated the cause of the ice gain. Observations from a gravity satellite, ice-core snow-accumulation records, water-vapour tracking, and atmospheric circulation simulations were put together to understand the strange occurrence. Also Read: Climate change shows its fangs - Melting permafrost triggered rockslide on Arctic island Tropical heat drove increase in ice sheet in Antarctica Their study found that the tropical warm pool at the juncture of the western Pacific and the eastern Indian Ocean was warmer than usual in those years. This triggered a Rossby wave train that moved towards the high southern latitudes, affecting the atmospheric circulation over East Antarctica. Eddy-mean flow feedbacks became stronger and more persistent, leading to a north–south dipole with low-pressure anomalies south of Australia and high-pressure anomalies along the East Antarctic coast. Also Read: El Niño winter: 6 US states facing heavy snowfall, expert warns The circulation from this change caused moisture from the midlatitude Indian Ocean to flow towards Antarctica, causing more number of atmospheric rivers to reach the frozen continent. The moist air led to heavy snowfall across the Queen Mary Land–Wilkes Land region, adding mass to the ice sheet. Experiments linked to atmospheric circulation showed that the circulation and the snow were a direct result of the tropical warm pool. "We found a previously underrecognized ‘tropical warm pool–East Antarctic Ice Sheet’ teleconnection pathway," said Yunhe Wang, first author of the study. "Our research provides a theoretical basis for understanding Antarctic ice-sheet mass changes and conducting future research on the East Antarctic climate." The study identified the north–south dipole circulation over East Antarctica as the common link between tropical warming and the increase in the mass of the ice sheet in Antarctica.

While climate change is melting glaciers, the East Antarctic ice sheet grew by nearly 700 billion tons over three years. While that might sound like good news, it is actually proof that global warming can wreak havoc on the planet. Here is what actually happened.

Extreme warming in Indian Ocean added 695 billion tons of ice to Antarctica ice sheet

When it comes to climate change, the BRICS Summit's New Delhi Declaration reads less like a communique and more like a negotiating position for the Global South. The bloc representing 40 percent of global GDP, 26 percent of global trade and nearly half the world's population made a clear push that can be described simply as: We want to not just follow the rules on climate change, we want to write them too. Coming as it did after the devastating Nepal floods, climate change was not an incidental aspect of the BRICS Declaration. It was woven throughout seperate sections of the 45-page document.<h2>The most pertinent features of BRICS Declaration on climate change:</h2><ul><li>Climate finance is part of the growth and development agenda</li><li>Debt is identified as a barrier to climate investment.&nbsp;</li><li>Climate adaptation appears directly in discussions involving central banks and finance ministries</li><li>BRICS seeks more financing options for developing economies, with a clear demand on developed countries when it comes to adoption.</li><li>Trade policy is explicitly linked to the countries’ capacity to adapt. This is reflected in the challenge to carbon border measures.&nbsp;</li><li>Opposition to protectionism is linked with support for multilateral trade rules even as BRICS vows to continue cooperation on trade and carbon markets&nbsp;</li><li>There are boundaries between climate and security, with concern expressed about attempts to link security with the climate-change agenda.</li></ul>"For a grouping as diverse and geopolitically complex as BRICS, achieving consensus on a forward-looking climate framework is no small feat," says Aarti Khosla, Founder and Director of Climate Trends.Also read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/brics-stitches-climate-into-its-trade-and-growth-agenda-experts-say-1789231897615">BRICS stitches climate into its trade and growth agenda, experts say</a><h2>The pushback on ‘carbon borders’: The most significant point?</h2>The BRICS joint declaration's opposition to the so-called ‘carbon border adjustment mechanisms’ (CBAMs) pushed by European Union has perhaps the sharpest language on climate change issues. And that, was a work in progress. At the 12th BRICS Environment Ministers' Meeting in Delhi, the bloc had already described CBAM as punitive, discriminatory and protectionist . Now it is etched in the leaders' text, which called CBAM “unilateral, punitive, discriminatory and protectionist,” that undermined developing countries' efforts to address climate impacts and build adaptive capacity.&nbsp;The message to Brussels: Climate ambition and tariff policy can't travel in the same bus.Elsewhere, the declaration demanded to restore a functioning WTO dispute-settlement system. It also warned that tariffs pursued under environmental objectives disrupt supply chains and widen economic disparities.Also read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/brics-built-350-meetings-worth-of-climate-cooperation-this-year-almost-none-of-it-comes-with-money-1789145877091">BRICS built 350 meetings' worth of climate cooperation this year, almost none of it comes with money</a><h2>Net Zero goes missing from the text</h2>Rathin Roy, Distinguished Professor at the Kautilya School of Public Policy, points to a conspicuous absence of what he calls “that favourite Euro-American phrase — Net Zero.”"For the BRICS, Net Zero is an outcome of a profoundly unsustainable development system."The keyword here is differentiated responsibilities and national circumstances. Fossil fuels will remain in the energy mix of emerging and developing economies, while renewables, hydrogen and nuclear energy will sit alongside.Developing economies will scale up clean energy on timelines set by their own development needs, not by deadlines written elsewhere.<a href="https://www.wionews.com/videos/brics-summit-2026-can-brics-turn-climate-pledges-into-action-1788943824383/embed">https://www.wionews.com/videos/brics-summit-2026-can-brics-turn-climate-pledges-into-action-1788943824383/embed</a><h2>After Nepal flood tragedy, resilience is not just a buzzword&nbsp;</h2>BRICS Summit was taking place just two weeks after the glacier-triggered floods in Nepal killed nearly 1,400 people, and the declaration pushed adaptation, climate finance and disaster risk reduction to the front of the text.For most of the bloc, climate is not an emissions accounting problem. It is a question of whether infrastructure survives the next monsoon. And the Declaration reflected the urgency. The text leaned hard into preparedness, with mentions on early-warning integration, voluntary principles for climate-resilient urban infrastructure, anticipatory action and drought-resilient seed systems.&nbsp;Debt was named as a barrier to climate investment, and developed countries were asked for additional, predictable and accessible adaptation finance.Ulka Kelkar of WRI India highlights that the proposed Insurance Resilience Centre and Risk Lab could offer an alternative to conventional insurance approaches that lose effectiveness as climate risk rises.<h2>BRICS wants to write climate change rules, not just follow them</h2>The declaration firmly connects climate adaptation to reforms of global financial and economic systems. It seeks IMF quota reform, a correction in World Bank shareholding patterns and greater developing-country representation at the UN, while backing Ethiopia's COP32 presidency and sending a constructive signal to COP31.Archana Chaudhary of Climate Trends aptly concludes the BRICS framing: emerging economies are asking not only for a greater share of global growth, but a greater role in writing the rules that shape it.Li Shuo says the real test is whether BRICS can translate rhetoric into stronger climate action as Western countries retreat from their commitments. That will decide what kind of geopolitical force the bloc becomes.

With the New Delhi Declaration, BRICS appears to have set up its negotiating stance on climate change. The text highlighted the need for balancing the Global South's energy requirements with climate commitments. It rejected carbon border taxes, and kept fossil fuels in the mix.

When it comes to climate change, the BRICS Summit's New Delhi Declaration reads less like a communique and more like a negotiating position for the Global South. The bloc representing 40 percent of global GDP, 26 percent of global trade and nearly half the world's population made a clear push that can be described simply as: We want to not just follow the rules on climate change, we want to write them too. Coming as it did after the devastating Nepal floods, climate change was not an incidental aspect of the BRICS Declaration. It was woven throughout seperate sections of the 45-page document. The most pertinent features of BRICS Declaration on climate change: Climate finance is part of the growth and development agenda Debt is identified as a barrier to climate investment. Climate adaptation appears directly in discussions involving central banks and finance ministries BRICS seeks more financing options for developing economies, with a clear demand on developed countries when it comes to adoption. Trade policy is explicitly linked to the countries’ capacity to adapt. This is reflected in the challenge to carbon border measures. Opposition to protectionism is linked with support for multilateral trade rules even as BRICS vows to continue cooperation on trade and carbon markets There are boundaries between climate and security, with concern expressed about attempts to link security with the climate-change agenda. "For a grouping as diverse and geopolitically complex as BRICS, achieving consensus on a forward-looking climate framework is no small feat," says Aarti Khosla, Founder and Director of Climate Trends. Also read: BRICS stitches climate into its trade and growth agenda, experts say The pushback on ‘carbon borders’: The most significant point? The BRICS joint declaration's opposition to the so-called ‘carbon border adjustment mechanisms’ (CBAMs) pushed by European Union has perhaps the sharpest language on climate change issues. And that, was a work in progress. At the 12th BRICS Environment Ministers' Meeting in Delhi, the bloc had already described CBAM as punitive, discriminatory and protectionist . Now it is etched in the leaders' text, which called CBAM “unilateral, punitive, discriminatory and protectionist,” that undermined developing countries' efforts to address climate impacts and build adaptive capacity. The message to Brussels: Climate ambition and tariff policy can't travel in the same bus. Elsewhere, the declaration demanded to restore a functioning WTO dispute-settlement system. It also warned that tariffs pursued under environmental objectives disrupt supply chains and widen economic disparities. Also read: BRICS built 350 meetings' worth of climate cooperation this year, almost none of it comes with money Net Zero goes missing from the text Rathin Roy, Distinguished Professor at the Kautilya School of Public Policy, points to a conspicuous absence of what he calls “that favourite Euro-American phrase — Net Zero.” "For the BRICS, Net Zero is an outcome of a profoundly unsustainable development system." The keyword here is differentiated responsibilities and national circumstances. Fossil fuels will remain in the energy mix of emerging and developing economies, while renewables, hydrogen and nuclear energy will sit alongside. Developing economies will scale up clean energy on timelines set by their own development needs, not by deadlines written elsewhere. https://www.wionews.com/videos/brics-summit-2026-can-brics-turn-climate-pledges-into-action-1788943824383/embed After Nepal flood tragedy, resilience is not just a buzzword BRICS Summit was taking place just two weeks after the glacier-triggered floods in Nepal killed nearly 1,400 people, and the declaration pushed adaptation, climate finance and disaster risk reduction to the front of the text. For most of the bloc, climate is not an emissions accounting problem. It is a question of whether infrastructure survives the next monsoon. And the Declaration reflected the urgency. The text leaned hard into preparedness, with mentions on early-warning integration, voluntary principles for climate-resilient urban infrastructure, anticipatory action and drought-resilient seed systems. Debt was named as a barrier to climate investment, and developed countries were asked for additional, predictable and accessible adaptation finance. Ulka Kelkar of WRI India highlights that the proposed Insurance Resilience Centre and Risk Lab could offer an alternative to conventional insurance approaches that lose effectiveness as climate risk rises. BRICS wants to write climate change rules, not just follow them The declaration firmly connects climate adaptation to reforms of global financial and economic systems. It seeks IMF quota reform, a correction in World Bank shareholding patterns and greater developing-country representation at the UN, while backing Ethiopia's COP32 presidency and sending a constructive signal to COP31. Archana Chaudhary of Climate Trends aptly concludes the BRICS framing: emerging economies are asking not only for a greater share of global growth, but a greater role in writing the rules that shape it. Li Shuo says the real test is whether BRICS can translate rhetoric into stronger climate action as Western countries retreat from their commitments. That will decide what kind of geopolitical force the bloc becomes.

With the New Delhi Declaration, BRICS appears to have set up its negotiating stance on climate change. The text highlighted the need for balancing the Global South's energy requirements with climate commitments. It rejected carbon border taxes, and kept fossil fuels in the mix.

BRICS Summit climate change stance: Delhi Declaration hints at changing priorities of Global South

The heatwave endured by France this summer will boost the alcohol content in your champagne. Extreme heat and drought have made the grapes richer in sugar than usual. During the fermentation process, yeast converts sugar into alcohol. Since the sugar concentration this year is quite high, this would translate into champagne with much higher alcohol levels. While the traditional limit is 13 per cent, champagnes produced from these grapes will have an alcohol content of 15 per cent.&nbsp;The country’s National Origin and Quality Institute has authorised the one-off exemption. However, experts say that climate change would cause this unusual harvest even in the future and it might become the norm in 10 to 15 years. Maxime Toubart, the co-chairman of the Comite&nbsp;Champagne, said that this "should prompt reflection on the champagne of tomorrow".&nbsp;France endured a severe heatwave this year as a heat dome took hold over parts of the continent. Temperatures reached 44.3 degrees Celsius in Pissos on June 23, 2026, during the country's hottest overall summer on record. This affected crops, and vineyards were no exception. Entire Europe was under a heat dome this summer, and human-made climate change might mean more such spells in the future.<h2>More alcohol in champagne a turn-off?</h2>High alcohol levels in champagne are not good news for the makers. Producers say that since people have been turning to low alcohol wines, more of it might affect sales. Didier Gimonnet, a third-generation producer in Cuis, told The Times that most of them will fix the problem by mixing grapes from different years to bring the levels down. Others might mix a 15 per cent batch with an 11 per cent batch from a previous year.&nbsp;However, according to Stéphane Vignon from the Verzenay region only a few producers will be affected. David Chatillon, co-chair of Comite Champagne, said that the average alcohol level after harvest is 12 per cent, so not all winegrowers in Champagne will go above that level. Besides, the bottles with higher alcohol content will not be available before 2028 since champagne takes about 15 months to ferment.

Climate change is not only melting glaciers but also affecting crops, including grapes used to make Champagne. The favourite drink is the latest casualty, as the extreme heat has changed the grapes to such an extent that you should expect more alcohol in your flute.

The heatwave endured by France this summer will boost the alcohol content in your champagne. Extreme heat and drought have made the grapes richer in sugar than usual. During the fermentation process, yeast converts sugar into alcohol. Since the sugar concentration this year is quite high, this would translate into champagne with much higher alcohol levels. While the traditional limit is 13 per cent, champagnes produced from these grapes will have an alcohol content of 15 per cent. The country’s National Origin and Quality Institute has authorised the one-off exemption. However, experts say that climate change would cause this unusual harvest even in the future and it might become the norm in 10 to 15 years. Maxime Toubart, the co-chairman of the Comite Champagne, said that this "should prompt reflection on the champagne of tomorrow". France endured a severe heatwave this year as a heat dome took hold over parts of the continent. Temperatures reached 44.3 degrees Celsius in Pissos on June 23, 2026, during the country's hottest overall summer on record. This affected crops, and vineyards were no exception. Entire Europe was under a heat dome this summer, and human-made climate change might mean more such spells in the future. More alcohol in champagne a turn-off? High alcohol levels in champagne are not good news for the makers. Producers say that since people have been turning to low alcohol wines, more of it might affect sales. Didier Gimonnet, a third-generation producer in Cuis, told The Times that most of them will fix the problem by mixing grapes from different years to bring the levels down. Others might mix a 15 per cent batch with an 11 per cent batch from a previous year. However, according to Stéphane Vignon from the Verzenay region only a few producers will be affected. David Chatillon, co-chair of Comite Champagne, said that the average alcohol level after harvest is 12 per cent, so not all winegrowers in Champagne will go above that level. Besides, the bottles with higher alcohol content will not be available before 2028 since champagne takes about 15 months to ferment.

Climate change is not only melting glaciers but also affecting crops, including grapes used to make Champagne. The favourite drink is the latest casualty, as the extreme heat has changed the grapes to such an extent that you should expect more alcohol in your flute.

15% alcohol in champagne? Climate change is set to make you a little more tipsy

The Nepal disaster has caused fear among other communities where glaciers can trigger similar disasters because of climate change. Mont Blanc in Western Europe is also facing danger as Earth heats up. Also known as the white mountain, it is covered with glaciers and snow, which the locals fear is changing.&nbsp;Glaciers are retreating, and the snow is melting at an alarming rate on Mont Blanc. Reports suggest that the record heatwave that swept Europe this summer, thanks to El Niño, has triggered considerable change in the mountain. The biggest issue is that the permafrost has melted. Permafrost is any ground that remains completely frozen for at least two years straight, and is made of a combination of soil, rocks and sand that are held together by ice.<h2>Mont Blanc permafrost melts</h2>Mont Blanc, the white mountain, is witnessing a massive change. The cliffs have defrosted and come apart, causing rocks to tumble down. A gully located at 4,805 metres has become temporarily impassable. Stéphane Bozon, a deputy mayor in Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, says rock falls have increased since mid-July.&nbsp;Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/trending/climate-change-shows-its-fangs-melting-permafrost-triggered-rockslide-on-arctic-island-1789017698225">Climate change shows its fangs - Melting permafrost triggered rockslide on Arctic island</a>&nbsp;"We saw areas becoming difficult to access because of glacial retreat and snowmelt on the glaciers, with crevasses opening up and rock collapses making some areas difficult to reach or traverse," she told Associated Press.Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/trending/iit-mandi-flags-9-12-glacial-lakes-as-critical-in-himachal-pradesh-amid-permafrost-loss-1788766607396">IIT Mandi researchers flag 9-12 glacial lakes as 'critical' in Himachal Pradesh amid permafrost loss</a>&nbsp;According to Meteo France, the national weather service, temperatures have spiked by several degrees since the 1990s. On the Aiguille du Midi peak at an altitude of 3,842 metres, average temperatures for July rose from 1.6 degrees Celsius in 1994 to 3.3 degrees Celsius. Bozon has called for urgent preparation for "serious scenarios" involving glacier or mountain chunks falling onto homes.Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/trending/alpine-glacier-was-covered-with-sheep-wool-sheets-to-prevent-melting-1788584485824">Alpine glacier was covered with sheep wool sheets to prevent melting. It worked</a>&nbsp;Glaciers everywhere are bearing the brunt of climate change. In Italy, Alpine glaciers have lost more than 40 per cent of their surface area since 1991, according to the region's glacier service. It doesn't snow anymore at high altitudes. Several glaciers on Mont Blanc are on the verge of becoming unstable because of permafrost loss.Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/trending/killing-the-himalayas-slowly-human-urine-is-melting-a-glacier-on-mount-everest-1788513947987">Killing the Himalayas slowly: Human urine is melting a glacier on Mount Everest</a>&nbsp;The Nepal floods were reportedly triggered by a glacial lake outburst. The melting glaciers hide lakes either inside them or near them, with rocks and debris acting as a wall. When these walls fall, the water gushes out, triggering floods. In Nepal, a glacier is believed to have collapsed, sending out a mix of rocks, mud and ice that washed away villages.<h2>Melting glaciers across the world</h2>&nbsp;Scientists have warned that the Himalayas are warming faster than other parts of the world. Chinese climate experts said that more glaciers are at risk of collapsing in the region. The Arctic is also facing a problem where a study found that in 2025 a rockslide on an island was triggered by melting permafrost. In the Alps, a group covered a glacier with sheep wool to see if it could prevent melting, and it did. The situation in the world's mountains is becoming dire, and urgent steps are needed to address it.&nbsp;

Glaciers across the world are facing grave danger from global warming and climate change. Mont Blanc in Europe has lost its permafrost and undergone massive changes. In the Arctic, climate change triggered a rockslide last year. Himalayas are already vulnerable, as evidenced by Nepal floods.

The Nepal disaster has caused fear among other communities where glaciers can trigger similar disasters because of climate change. Mont Blanc in Western Europe is also facing danger as Earth heats up. Also known as the white mountain, it is covered with glaciers and snow, which the locals fear is changing. Glaciers are retreating, and the snow is melting at an alarming rate on Mont Blanc. Reports suggest that the record heatwave that swept Europe this summer, thanks to El Niño, has triggered considerable change in the mountain. The biggest issue is that the permafrost has melted. Permafrost is any ground that remains completely frozen for at least two years straight, and is made of a combination of soil, rocks and sand that are held together by ice. Mont Blanc permafrost melts Mont Blanc, the white mountain, is witnessing a massive change. The cliffs have defrosted and come apart, causing rocks to tumble down. A gully located at 4,805 metres has become temporarily impassable. Stéphane Bozon, a deputy mayor in Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, says rock falls have increased since mid-July. Also Read: Climate change shows its fangs - Melting permafrost triggered rockslide on Arctic island "We saw areas becoming difficult to access because of glacial retreat and snowmelt on the glaciers, with crevasses opening up and rock collapses making some areas difficult to reach or traverse," she told Associated Press. Also Read: IIT Mandi researchers flag 9-12 glacial lakes as 'critical' in Himachal Pradesh amid permafrost loss According to Meteo France, the national weather service, temperatures have spiked by several degrees since the 1990s. On the Aiguille du Midi peak at an altitude of 3,842 metres, average temperatures for July rose from 1.6 degrees Celsius in 1994 to 3.3 degrees Celsius. Bozon has called for urgent preparation for "serious scenarios" involving glacier or mountain chunks falling onto homes. Also Read: Alpine glacier was covered with sheep wool sheets to prevent melting. It worked Glaciers everywhere are bearing the brunt of climate change. In Italy, Alpine glaciers have lost more than 40 per cent of their surface area since 1991, according to the region's glacier service. It doesn't snow anymore at high altitudes. Several glaciers on Mont Blanc are on the verge of becoming unstable because of permafrost loss. Also Read: Killing the Himalayas slowly: Human urine is melting a glacier on Mount Everest The Nepal floods were reportedly triggered by a glacial lake outburst. The melting glaciers hide lakes either inside them or near them, with rocks and debris acting as a wall. When these walls fall, the water gushes out, triggering floods. In Nepal, a glacier is believed to have collapsed, sending out a mix of rocks, mud and ice that washed away villages. Melting glaciers across the world Scientists have warned that the Himalayas are warming faster than other parts of the world. Chinese climate experts said that more glaciers are at risk of collapsing in the region. The Arctic is also facing a problem where a study found that in 2025 a rockslide on an island was triggered by melting permafrost. In the Alps, a group covered a glacier with sheep wool to see if it could prevent melting, and it did. The situation in the world's mountains is becoming dire, and urgent steps are needed to address it.

Glaciers across the world are facing grave danger from global warming and climate change. Mont Blanc in Europe has lost its permafrost and undergone massive changes. In the Arctic, climate change triggered a rockslide last year. Himalayas are already vulnerable, as evidenced by Nepal floods.

Mont Blanc has lost its permafrost, triggering concerns about the glaciers

Scientists have stumbled upon the actual reason for the rock avalanche that hit Jan Mayen, a Norwegian volcanic island in the Arctic Ocean, in March 2025. Till now it was believed that a magnitude 6.5 earthquake destabilised the rocks, triggering the rockslide that buried a large portion of the Kjerulf Glacier. Even though this was the biggest earthquake to strike the island, it was not what caused this rock avalanche.&nbsp;A study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences states that it was the melting permafrost that sent the rocks to tumble down the slope in Jan Mayen. Simply put, climate change was the reason for this calamity, which affected the permafrost, the permanently frozen ground held together by ice.Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/trending/alpine-glacier-was-covered-with-sheep-wool-sheets-to-prevent-melting-1788584485824">Alpine glacier was covered with sheep wool sheets to prevent melting. It worked</a>&nbsp;The rising temperatures are triggering not only the glaciers to melt, but also the permafrost in the Arctic. Researchers used seismic data, infrasound observations, satellite imagery, satellite ground displacement data, and climate records to pin down the actual culprit.&nbsp;So while the earthquake triggered the actual avalanche, the slope had already become unstable by permafrost degradation. Guilherme WS de Melo, the lead author of the study, said this is the first time an earthquake-triggered rock avalanche on Jan Mayen Island has been documented.Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/trending/killing-the-himalayas-slowly-human-urine-is-melting-a-glacier-on-mount-everest-1788513947987">Killing the Himalayas slowly: Human urine is melting a glacier on Mount Everest</a><h2>Earthquakes and rockslides</h2>&nbsp;Jan Mayen Island sits near the Jan Mayen Ocean Transform Fault, a seismically active plate boundary which often triggers earthquakes on the island. But never before has one caused a rock avalanche of the same scale, according to satellite observations from the past 40 years. Their analysis showed that the earthquake did trigger the rock avalanche.&nbsp;&nbsp;It occurred within three minutes of the main shock, with 1.3 million cubic yards of debris covering 30 to 50 per cent of the Kjerulf Glacier’s surface. An ice calving event on the shoreline of the Weyprecht Glacier nearby was also recorded.<h2>Climate change loosened the rocks</h2>&nbsp;To understand if climate change could have played a role, they gathered air temperature records at Jan Mayen Island from 1970 to 2025. The average summer temperatures had risen from 2 to 3 degrees Celsius in this period, while the winter temperature rose from -7 to -6 degrees Celsius. Extreme cold events, where temperatures were below -20 degrees Celsius, went down in the 1990s.Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/trending/iit-mandi-flags-9-12-glacial-lakes-as-critical-in-himachal-pradesh-amid-permafrost-loss-1788766607396">IIT Mandi researchers flag 9-12 glacial lakes as 'critical' in Himachal Pradesh amid permafrost loss</a> &nbsp;Scientists have earlier flagged that the Arctic is warming at a faster rate than the rest of the world. The study authors noted that climate change has increased the risk of landslides and avalanches in the entire Arctic. Hazardous events, such as the one that occurred in Nepal and Tibet on August 26, could become common because of global warming.&nbsp;&nbsp;"There, the immediate trigger was a glacier/ice-rock collapse; in the event we studied on Jan Mayen, it was an earthquake. In the broader context, however, both events highlight how a warming climate can make glacial areas increasingly vulnerable to cascading hazards," de Melo said.&nbsp;The Arctic event once again proves that human-driven climate change is weakening glaciers, setting the stage for ominous events.&nbsp;

Scientists have flagged the potential for more climate change-driven disasters like the Nepal-Tibet floods. In the Arctic, an earthquake triggered a massive rockslide in 2025. However, climate change had melted the permafrost, which actually caused the avalanche.

Scientists have stumbled upon the actual reason for the rock avalanche that hit Jan Mayen, a Norwegian volcanic island in the Arctic Ocean, in March 2025. Till now it was believed that a magnitude 6.5 earthquake destabilised the rocks, triggering the rockslide that buried a large portion of the Kjerulf Glacier. Even though this was the biggest earthquake to strike the island, it was not what caused this rock avalanche. A study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences states that it was the melting permafrost that sent the rocks to tumble down the slope in Jan Mayen. Simply put, climate change was the reason for this calamity, which affected the permafrost, the permanently frozen ground held together by ice. Also Read: Alpine glacier was covered with sheep wool sheets to prevent melting. It worked The rising temperatures are triggering not only the glaciers to melt, but also the permafrost in the Arctic. Researchers used seismic data, infrasound observations, satellite imagery, satellite ground displacement data, and climate records to pin down the actual culprit. So while the earthquake triggered the actual avalanche, the slope had already become unstable by permafrost degradation. Guilherme WS de Melo, the lead author of the study, said this is the first time an earthquake-triggered rock avalanche on Jan Mayen Island has been documented. Also Read: Killing the Himalayas slowly: Human urine is melting a glacier on Mount Everest Earthquakes and rockslides Jan Mayen Island sits near the Jan Mayen Ocean Transform Fault, a seismically active plate boundary which often triggers earthquakes on the island. But never before has one caused a rock avalanche of the same scale, according to satellite observations from the past 40 years. Their analysis showed that the earthquake did trigger the rock avalanche. It occurred within three minutes of the main shock, with 1.3 million cubic yards of debris covering 30 to 50 per cent of the Kjerulf Glacier’s surface. An ice calving event on the shoreline of the Weyprecht Glacier nearby was also recorded. Climate change loosened the rocks To understand if climate change could have played a role, they gathered air temperature records at Jan Mayen Island from 1970 to 2025. The average summer temperatures had risen from 2 to 3 degrees Celsius in this period, while the winter temperature rose from -7 to -6 degrees Celsius. Extreme cold events, where temperatures were below -20 degrees Celsius, went down in the 1990s. Also Read: IIT Mandi researchers flag 9-12 glacial lakes as 'critical' in Himachal Pradesh amid permafrost loss Scientists have earlier flagged that the Arctic is warming at a faster rate than the rest of the world. The study authors noted that climate change has increased the risk of landslides and avalanches in the entire Arctic. Hazardous events, such as the one that occurred in Nepal and Tibet on August 26, could become common because of global warming. "There, the immediate trigger was a glacier/ice-rock collapse; in the event we studied on Jan Mayen, it was an earthquake. In the broader context, however, both events highlight how a warming climate can make glacial areas increasingly vulnerable to cascading hazards," de Melo said. The Arctic event once again proves that human-driven climate change is weakening glaciers, setting the stage for ominous events.

Scientists have flagged the potential for more climate change-driven disasters like the Nepal-Tibet floods. In the Arctic, an earthquake triggered a massive rockslide in 2025. However, climate change had melted the permafrost, which actually caused the avalanche.

Climate change shows its fangs - Melting permafrost triggered rockslide on Arctic island

The Nepal floods have exposed the threat posed by glacial lakes in the Himalayas. Now a study has warned that between nine and 12 lakes in Himachal Pradesh are at a "critical" stage. This means that all these lakes could burst as the rising heat breaks down the barriers, creating the threat of similar floods. Researchers at IIT Mandi conducted a study of 2,000 glacial lakes and found that the risk from melting glaciers is rising.&nbsp;The research states that besides the melting glaciers and the expanding glacial lakes, permafrost loss has also destabilised the terrain. Climate change has triggered conditions to change rapidly under the Himalayan glaciers. With permafrost also melting, the mountain region has become increasingly unstable. Several of the glacial lakes studied by the IIT Mandi scientists have expanded over a decade, with 30 to 60 per cent of them today bigger than what they were 10 years ago.<h2>Four main lakes flagged</h2>Glaciers are bearing the brunt of rising tourism, pollution and dust deposits, all of which have accelerated the melting. The National Disaster Management Authority has identified four lakes that require immediate attention: Ghepan Lake, Vasuki Lake, Kashang and a lake near Baspa. The threats have expanded due to human-induced changes in the region.&nbsp;Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/trending/beginning-of-the-end-more-glacial-lake-outbursts-threaten-millions-in-india-nepal-and-china-1788328630280">Beginning of the end? More glacial lake outbursts threaten millions in India, Nepal and China</a>&nbsp;Ghepan Lake, Yoche Lake and Kali Kund Lake pose the greatest risk as they are continuously expanding. Vasuki Lake is also expanding, although the absence of human settlements for kilometres minimises the risk.&nbsp;The rise in tourism has emerged as one of the major factors affecting the glaciers and the lakes. Carbon and dust are depositing on glaciers, accelerating melting. The melting of permafrost creates instability when the layer above moves.Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/nepal-and-tibet-floods-warning-sign-of-a-looming-disaster-two-days-before-tragedy-struck-1788234797394">Warning sign of a looming disaster recorded two days before tragedy struck</a>&nbsp;The Nepal floods are said to have occurred after a glacier near the Langtang Lirung mountain peak collapsed and fell into the valley. Chinese and UN experts have warned that similar glacial floods could slam the region as more glaciers in the region have weakened. Scientists say that the Himalayas are warming faster than other areas, with Nepal, China and India at major risk.

A study of 2,000 glacial lakes in Himachal Pradesh by IIT Mandi has found that at least 12 lakes are in the late stages of bursting. Four of them are at higher risk. Tourism and dust deposits on glaciers have accelerated melting.

The Nepal floods have exposed the threat posed by glacial lakes in the Himalayas. Now a study has warned that between nine and 12 lakes in Himachal Pradesh are at a "critical" stage. This means that all these lakes could burst as the rising heat breaks down the barriers, creating the threat of similar floods. Researchers at IIT Mandi conducted a study of 2,000 glacial lakes and found that the risk from melting glaciers is rising. The research states that besides the melting glaciers and the expanding glacial lakes, permafrost loss has also destabilised the terrain. Climate change has triggered conditions to change rapidly under the Himalayan glaciers. With permafrost also melting, the mountain region has become increasingly unstable. Several of the glacial lakes studied by the IIT Mandi scientists have expanded over a decade, with 30 to 60 per cent of them today bigger than what they were 10 years ago. Four main lakes flagged Glaciers are bearing the brunt of rising tourism, pollution and dust deposits, all of which have accelerated the melting. The National Disaster Management Authority has identified four lakes that require immediate attention: Ghepan Lake, Vasuki Lake, Kashang and a lake near Baspa. The threats have expanded due to human-induced changes in the region. Also Read: Beginning of the end? More glacial lake outbursts threaten millions in India, Nepal and China Ghepan Lake, Yoche Lake and Kali Kund Lake pose the greatest risk as they are continuously expanding. Vasuki Lake is also expanding, although the absence of human settlements for kilometres minimises the risk. The rise in tourism has emerged as one of the major factors affecting the glaciers and the lakes. Carbon and dust are depositing on glaciers, accelerating melting. The melting of permafrost creates instability when the layer above moves. Also Read: Warning sign of a looming disaster recorded two days before tragedy struck The Nepal floods are said to have occurred after a glacier near the Langtang Lirung mountain peak collapsed and fell into the valley. Chinese and UN experts have warned that similar glacial floods could slam the region as more glaciers in the region have weakened. Scientists say that the Himalayas are warming faster than other areas, with Nepal, China and India at major risk.

A study of 2,000 glacial lakes in Himachal Pradesh by IIT Mandi has found that at least 12 lakes are in the late stages of bursting. Four of them are at higher risk. Tourism and dust deposits on glaciers have accelerated melting.

IIT Mandi researchers flag 9-12 glacial lakes as 'critical' in Himachal Pradesh amid permafrost loss

Scientists for decades have known that all of Earth's continents would one day again join together to form a new supercontinent. We started from Pangea and will go back to it again. There are several scenarios that could unfold, and one of them will most definitely spell doom for all mammals, including humans.&nbsp;Studies have shown that Pangea started breaking apart 200 million years ago, and will come together again in the same amount of time. A research article published in Geological Magazine in 2018 proposes four ways this could go.<h2>1. Novopangaea</h2> The Pacific Ocean will close, and the Atlantic Ocean will expand. The Americas will collide with East Asia and Antarctica, resulting in a landmass which would be centred primarily in the Northern Hemisphere. The portions near the equator will be hot and arid. The coastal regions will witness heavy precipitation, but the inner land would be mainly dry. But since the land would extend towards the colder latitudes, moderate global ocean circulation and polar ice dynamics would continue to exist.<h2>2. Aurica</h2> The Pacific and Atlantic Oceans will close, creating the supercontinent of Aurica. Since they are 200 million and 180 million years old, older than the Indian Ocean, which is 140 million years old, the former two will close up. The interior of the continents will rift apart, reassembling Earth's landmasses into a ring around the equator. Since the continent would be near the equator, "it will probably be a little warmer, and maybe drier than today’s Earth," &nbsp;João C. Duarte, an assistant professor in tectonics at the University of Lisbon, Portugal, who created the Aurica hypothesis, told Popular Mechanics.<h2>3. Amasia</h2> In this scenario, the Arctic Ocean will close and all continents, except Antarctica, will move towards the North Pole. With every landmass in the North, the Southern Hemisphere will be nothing but one vast ocean, with the exception of Antarctica. In the absence of land in between, the ocean conveyor belt that carries heat from the equator to the poles would be disrupted. The poles will become colder and remain covered in ice all year long.<h2>4. Pangea Ultima / Próxima</h2> The Atlantic Ocean will close entirely as new subduction zones form. The Indian Ocean will also close and become an inland sea. The Americas will collide with Asia. All continents merge around the equator to form Pangea Ultima. It will be like a large landmass shaped like a ring around the equator.<h2>Which supercontinent will most likely kill all humans?</h2>&nbsp;While both Aurica and Amasia will mean the end of specific species on land and sea, it is the Pangea Ultima that will kill all humans on Earth. Interior land areas will be thousands of miles away from the ocean breezes, meaning 90 per cent of the land will be hot and dry desert. The Sun is also getting brighter, which will make things even hotter for the planet, especially in inner regions in Pangea Ultima. The atmosphere would be filled with high levels of carbon dioxide from the several volcanic explosions caused by tectonic movement.&nbsp;Temperatures will reach between 40°C and 70°C, with only 8 per cent to 16 per cent of Earth's land area remaining hospitable to mammals. With no breeze and high heat, the human body would not be able to shed the heat. It would push Earth past the physiological thermal limit for mammalian life, triggering a mass extinction.&nbsp;The good news is that none of us would be here when this happens in over 200 million years. However, a new life cycle might have started by that time with species that may be able to adapt to the new world. &nbsp;

Continents on Earth will come together to form a new supercontinent in about 200 million years. When this happens, the conditions will drastically change for all life. One of them will trigger a mass extinction, with extreme heat killing all mammals.

Scientists for decades have known that all of Earth's continents would one day again join together to form a new supercontinent. We started from Pangea and will go back to it again. There are several scenarios that could unfold, and one of them will most definitely spell doom for all mammals, including humans. Studies have shown that Pangea started breaking apart 200 million years ago, and will come together again in the same amount of time. A research article published in Geological Magazine in 2018 proposes four ways this could go. 1. Novopangaea The Pacific Ocean will close, and the Atlantic Ocean will expand. The Americas will collide with East Asia and Antarctica, resulting in a landmass which would be centred primarily in the Northern Hemisphere. The portions near the equator will be hot and arid. The coastal regions will witness heavy precipitation, but the inner land would be mainly dry. But since the land would extend towards the colder latitudes, moderate global ocean circulation and polar ice dynamics would continue to exist. 2. Aurica The Pacific and Atlantic Oceans will close, creating the supercontinent of Aurica. Since they are 200 million and 180 million years old, older than the Indian Ocean, which is 140 million years old, the former two will close up. The interior of the continents will rift apart, reassembling Earth's landmasses into a ring around the equator. Since the continent would be near the equator, "it will probably be a little warmer, and maybe drier than today’s Earth," João C. Duarte, an assistant professor in tectonics at the University of Lisbon, Portugal, who created the Aurica hypothesis, told Popular Mechanics. 3. Amasia In this scenario, the Arctic Ocean will close and all continents, except Antarctica, will move towards the North Pole. With every landmass in the North, the Southern Hemisphere will be nothing but one vast ocean, with the exception of Antarctica. In the absence of land in between, the ocean conveyor belt that carries heat from the equator to the poles would be disrupted. The poles will become colder and remain covered in ice all year long. 4. Pangea Ultima / Próxima The Atlantic Ocean will close entirely as new subduction zones form. The Indian Ocean will also close and become an inland sea. The Americas will collide with Asia. All continents merge around the equator to form Pangea Ultima. It will be like a large landmass shaped like a ring around the equator. Which supercontinent will most likely kill all humans? While both Aurica and Amasia will mean the end of specific species on land and sea, it is the Pangea Ultima that will kill all humans on Earth. Interior land areas will be thousands of miles away from the ocean breezes, meaning 90 per cent of the land will be hot and dry desert. The Sun is also getting brighter, which will make things even hotter for the planet, especially in inner regions in Pangea Ultima. The atmosphere would be filled with high levels of carbon dioxide from the several volcanic explosions caused by tectonic movement. Temperatures will reach between 40°C and 70°C, with only 8 per cent to 16 per cent of Earth's land area remaining hospitable to mammals. With no breeze and high heat, the human body would not be able to shed the heat. It would push Earth past the physiological thermal limit for mammalian life, triggering a mass extinction. The good news is that none of us would be here when this happens in over 200 million years. However, a new life cycle might have started by that time with species that may be able to adapt to the new world.

Continents on Earth will come together to form a new supercontinent in about 200 million years. When this happens, the conditions will drastically change for all life. One of them will trigger a mass extinction, with extreme heat killing all mammals.

In 200 million years, the next supercontinent will be born and could  kill us all

Researchers in Switzerland have started a novel experiment to protect the country's glaciers. They are using sheep wool to cover the ice on the Alps to deflect heat away and prevent melting. And it is working. The experiment is being carried out on the Tsanfleuron Glacier in western Switzerland. The “Keep It Wool” project is being led by the environmental group Summit Foundation and the University of Lausanne.&nbsp;The ice is normally covered with synthetic sheets to prevent it from absorbing heat. But they are non-biodegradable. So, in the latest experiment, researchers decided to go with Swiss sheep wool and put them over some sections of the glacier. They were a sustainable option, and if they worked, that would be a breakthrough.<h2>Replacing plastic sheets with natural products&nbsp;</h2>The researchers found that the wool seemed to have worked as well as the synthetic material and protected the ice from the heat. The study shows that using sheep wool sheets provides a dual benefit. First, it is no longer necessary to choose a plastic material to protect the ice, since plastic materials are an additional burden on the environment. Second, sheep wool can be put to use for a new area instead of being discarded. Both of them turn out to be an added benefit to safeguarding the environment, besides preventing glacier ice from melting.Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/trending/killing-the-himalayas-slowly-human-urine-is-melting-a-glacier-on-mount-everest-1788513947987">Killing the Himalayas slowly: Human urine is melting a glacier on Mount Everest</a><h2>Placing wool sheets on the glacier</h2>The team decided to try to use wool as an insulating and reflective layer to test a biodegradable alternative and find an area where the material can be used. According to the project, 40 per cent and 70 per cent of Swiss wool is discarded each year. They placed two prototype wool blankets across roughly 200 square meters of the Tsanfleuron Glacier, which spans about 3.5 kilometres. They analysed how the sheets performed compared to synthetic material every two weeks.Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/trending/beginning-of-the-end-more-glacial-lake-outbursts-threaten-millions-in-india-nepal-and-china-1788328630280">Beginning of the end? More glacial lake outbursts threaten millions in India, Nepal and China</a>&nbsp;They found that wool limited ice loss to roughly the same degree as the synthetic material. University of Lausanne student Eliot Gapio said, "Now we have an environmentally friendly solution that you can not only imagine, but also see and touch."&nbsp;Even though the researchers saw positive results with sheep wool, they stressed that this is not a solution to global warming. To prevent glacier loss, it is important to cut out greenhouse gas emissions.&nbsp;The Nepal floods were caused by a glacial lake outburst, meaning a glacier kept melting, and a temporary wall held it back until it couldn't. It collapsed, and the water gushed down the valley. Scientists have warned that the Himalayas are warming faster than other regions, and many more glaciers are at a similar risk. The tragedy that unfolded in Nepal and Tibet could become commonplace if drastic steps are not taken soon.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Saving the world's glaciers should be the top priority of world leaders, especially after the tragedy that unfolded in Nepal and Tibet. Scientists in Switzerland covered an Alpine glacier with wool sheets to see if they could prevent heating and melting. 

Researchers in Switzerland have started a novel experiment to protect the country's glaciers. They are using sheep wool to cover the ice on the Alps to deflect heat away and prevent melting. And it is working. The experiment is being carried out on the Tsanfleuron Glacier in western Switzerland. The “Keep It Wool” project is being led by the environmental group Summit Foundation and the University of Lausanne. The ice is normally covered with synthetic sheets to prevent it from absorbing heat. But they are non-biodegradable. So, in the latest experiment, researchers decided to go with Swiss sheep wool and put them over some sections of the glacier. They were a sustainable option, and if they worked, that would be a breakthrough. Replacing plastic sheets with natural products The researchers found that the wool seemed to have worked as well as the synthetic material and protected the ice from the heat. The study shows that using sheep wool sheets provides a dual benefit. First, it is no longer necessary to choose a plastic material to protect the ice, since plastic materials are an additional burden on the environment. Second, sheep wool can be put to use for a new area instead of being discarded. Both of them turn out to be an added benefit to safeguarding the environment, besides preventing glacier ice from melting. Also Read: Killing the Himalayas slowly: Human urine is melting a glacier on Mount Everest Placing wool sheets on the glacier The team decided to try to use wool as an insulating and reflective layer to test a biodegradable alternative and find an area where the material can be used. According to the project, 40 per cent and 70 per cent of Swiss wool is discarded each year. They placed two prototype wool blankets across roughly 200 square meters of the Tsanfleuron Glacier, which spans about 3.5 kilometres. They analysed how the sheets performed compared to synthetic material every two weeks. Also Read: Beginning of the end? More glacial lake outbursts threaten millions in India, Nepal and China They found that wool limited ice loss to roughly the same degree as the synthetic material. University of Lausanne student Eliot Gapio said, "Now we have an environmentally friendly solution that you can not only imagine, but also see and touch." Even though the researchers saw positive results with sheep wool, they stressed that this is not a solution to global warming. To prevent glacier loss, it is important to cut out greenhouse gas emissions. The Nepal floods were caused by a glacial lake outburst, meaning a glacier kept melting, and a temporary wall held it back until it couldn't. It collapsed, and the water gushed down the valley. Scientists have warned that the Himalayas are warming faster than other regions, and many more glaciers are at a similar risk. The tragedy that unfolded in Nepal and Tibet could become commonplace if drastic steps are not taken soon.

Saving the world's glaciers should be the top priority of world leaders, especially after the tragedy that unfolded in Nepal and Tibet. Scientists in Switzerland covered an Alpine glacier with wool sheets to see if they could prevent heating and melting.&nbsp;

Alpine glacier was covered with sheep wool sheets to prevent melting. It worked

The Himalayas are at risk of several more glacial lake outbursts in the future because of global warming. Experts from the United Nations and China have warned that the region could be slammed by glacial floods similar to what swept through Nepal and Tibet on August 26. Kanni Wignaraja, an assistant secretary-general at the United Nations, said, citing updated data on glacial lakes in the region, that millions are at risk from these events.&nbsp;Meanwhile, China's Ministry of Water Resources warned on Monday that the glaciers surrounding the Cuojian River in Nepal, where the glacier collapse occurred last week, have become unstable and could cause more flooding.<h2>What is a glacial lake?</h2> Glacial lakes are formed when a glacier melts and the water either gets filled inside, under or around the glacier. Natural barriers, such as the glacier wall and loose debris and mud, prevent the water from flowing out. The water continues to accumulate, and when the pressure builds to an extreme level, the barriers break, sending the water gushing out at great speed.Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/nepal-and-tibet-floods-warning-sign-of-a-looming-disaster-two-days-before-tragedy-struck-1788234797394">Nepal and Tibet floods: Warning sign of a looming disaster recorded two days before tragedy struck</a><h2>The Nepal-Tibet floods</h2> Tragedy unfolded in Nepal and Tibet when a glacier near the Langtang Lirung mountain peak collapsed and fell to the valley floor. A landslide was triggered, and the flood washed down the Trishuli River. More than 1,000 deaths have been reported, over 4,000 remain missing, and more than 900 hydropower workers are trapped in a tunnel.Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/nepal-pm-calls-for-action-against-climate-change-amid-disaster-in-the-himalayas-1788237842731">Nepal PM calls for action against climate change amid disaster in the Himalayas</a><h2>Glacial floods could become common</h2> Experts have warned that we are now seeing the effects of climate change unfold in real time. Glaciers in the Himalayas have become unstable, are melting and could trigger devastating flooding in the future. Scientists say the Himalayas are warming faster than other areas, putting Nepal, China and India at major risk.&nbsp;Chinese experts have cautioned that millions of tons of ice in glaciers in the affected valley have become unstable and can collapse. The water in the impact crater on Nepal's Cuojian River has gone down significantly, shrinking to about 83,000 square metres from 108,000 square metres on Sunday morning, Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery showed. However, more landslides could create another blockade, threatening the formation of another barrier lake, the Chinese ministry said.<h2>Glacial lakes in Himalayas</h2> In 2020, researchers identified 47 glacial lakes in Nepal, China and India. Latest data shows that the number of these lakes has increased, and as they burst, similar devastation could unfold again. The Nepal flash floods are a clear sign that the effects of climate change are already being felt by humans. A continuously warming world could mean the beginning of the end for all of humanity.

Nepal floods: The world could be staring at the beginning of the end as climate change begins to show its fangs. The Nepal-Tibet flood is a clear sign that a warming world has made glaciers weak, which could collapse at any time, experts have warned.

The Himalayas are at risk of several more glacial lake outbursts in the future because of global warming. Experts from the United Nations and China have warned that the region could be slammed by glacial floods similar to what swept through Nepal and Tibet on August 26. Kanni Wignaraja, an assistant secretary-general at the United Nations, said, citing updated data on glacial lakes in the region, that millions are at risk from these events. Meanwhile, China's Ministry of Water Resources warned on Monday that the glaciers surrounding the Cuojian River in Nepal, where the glacier collapse occurred last week, have become unstable and could cause more flooding. What is a glacial lake? Glacial lakes are formed when a glacier melts and the water either gets filled inside, under or around the glacier. Natural barriers, such as the glacier wall and loose debris and mud, prevent the water from flowing out. The water continues to accumulate, and when the pressure builds to an extreme level, the barriers break, sending the water gushing out at great speed. Also Read: Nepal and Tibet floods: Warning sign of a looming disaster recorded two days before tragedy struck The Nepal-Tibet floods Tragedy unfolded in Nepal and Tibet when a glacier near the Langtang Lirung mountain peak collapsed and fell to the valley floor. A landslide was triggered, and the flood washed down the Trishuli River. More than 1,000 deaths have been reported, over 4,000 remain missing, and more than 900 hydropower workers are trapped in a tunnel. Also Read: Nepal PM calls for action against climate change amid disaster in the Himalayas Glacial floods could become common Experts have warned that we are now seeing the effects of climate change unfold in real time. Glaciers in the Himalayas have become unstable, are melting and could trigger devastating flooding in the future. Scientists say the Himalayas are warming faster than other areas, putting Nepal, China and India at major risk. Chinese experts have cautioned that millions of tons of ice in glaciers in the affected valley have become unstable and can collapse. The water in the impact crater on Nepal's Cuojian River has gone down significantly, shrinking to about 83,000 square metres from 108,000 square metres on Sunday morning, Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery showed. However, more landslides could create another blockade, threatening the formation of another barrier lake, the Chinese ministry said. Glacial lakes in Himalayas In 2020, researchers identified 47 glacial lakes in Nepal, China and India. Latest data shows that the number of these lakes has increased, and as they burst, similar devastation could unfold again. The Nepal flash floods are a clear sign that the effects of climate change are already being felt by humans. A continuously warming world could mean the beginning of the end for all of humanity.

Nepal floods: The world could be staring at the beginning of the end as climate change begins to show its fangs. The Nepal-Tibet flood is a clear sign that a warming world has made glaciers weak, which could collapse at any time, experts have warned.

Beginning of the end? More glacial lake outbursts threaten millions in India, Nepal and China

A major El Niño warning has been issued as scientists and weather experts monitor a potentially exceptional climate event developing in the Pacific. Britain’s Met Office says 2026 could see an unusually strong El Niño, with the possibility of significant global weather impacts.

Pacific sea surface temperatures could rise by more than 3°C, far above the levels normally associated with El Niño. The climate pattern can influence rainfall, winds and temperatures across the world.

For India, the developing El Niño comes at a critical time. A strong El Niño can weaken the Indian monsoon, potentially affecting agriculture, water availability and crop production. The India Meteorological Department has forecast this year’s monsoon at around 90% of the long-period average, according to the report.

Experts warn that the impact could extend beyond the current crop season, potentially affecting the Rabi season and 2027 agriculture. Heatwaves could also become a major concern next year.

El Niño Warning: 2026 Could See Strongest Event In Living Memory | India Monsoon At Risk

The bodies of two Belgian hikers who went missing in the Swiss Alps over three decades ago have been found. The bodies were revealed after the glaciers retreated because of climate change. In recent years, Switzerland's glaciers have been melting at an increasing rate. This has led to the emergence of remains of people who went missing in the region decades ago. Police in the southwestern Valais region have a database of everyone who vanished over the last century.&nbsp;The human remains were found by a hiker last month as the Trift glacier south of the city of Lucerne melted. The regional government said on Wednesday that this led them to start an operation to recover the remains. DNA tests identified them as two Belgian hikers, who died at the ages of 39 and 41. They went missing near the Weissmies mountain in 1992.<h2>Global warming is melting glaciers</h2>As the climate warms and glaciers melt, more and more such discoveries are being made. Three years ago, a body was found on a Swiss glacier near the Matterhorn. He was identified as a German mountaineer who disappeared in 1986.<h2>Global warming and melting glaciers in Switzerland</h2>Swiss glaciers are melting at an accelerated rate and have lost 24 per cent of their total volume between 2015 and 2025. According to data from GLAMOS (Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland), warming in the Swiss Alps is twice the global average rate. Swiss glaciers lost 10 per cent of their total ice mass in 2022 and 2023. This is equal to all the ice lost between 1960 and 1990.&nbsp;&nbsp;Several small glaciers have already vanished, with more than 1,000 of them completely gone. This year, active melting was reported at high altitudes because of the summer heatwave. Scientists estimate that even if humans are successful in reducing carbon emissions significantly, at least two-thirds of Alpine glacier volume will disappear by 2100.

Two hikers went missing on a Swiss glacier in 1992, and their bodies have now been found on a mountain. The police identified them as Belgians who died at the ages of 39 and 41.  

The bodies of two Belgian hikers who went missing in the Swiss Alps over three decades ago have been found. The bodies were revealed after the glaciers retreated because of climate change. In recent years, Switzerland's glaciers have been melting at an increasing rate. This has led to the emergence of remains of people who went missing in the region decades ago. Police in the southwestern Valais region have a database of everyone who vanished over the last century. The human remains were found by a hiker last month as the Trift glacier south of the city of Lucerne melted. The regional government said on Wednesday that this led them to start an operation to recover the remains. DNA tests identified them as two Belgian hikers, who died at the ages of 39 and 41. They went missing near the Weissmies mountain in 1992. Global warming is melting glaciers As the climate warms and glaciers melt, more and more such discoveries are being made. Three years ago, a body was found on a Swiss glacier near the Matterhorn. He was identified as a German mountaineer who disappeared in 1986. Global warming and melting glaciers in Switzerland Swiss glaciers are melting at an accelerated rate and have lost 24 per cent of their total volume between 2015 and 2025. According to data from GLAMOS (Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland), warming in the Swiss Alps is twice the global average rate. Swiss glaciers lost 10 per cent of their total ice mass in 2022 and 2023. This is equal to all the ice lost between 1960 and 1990. Several small glaciers have already vanished, with more than 1,000 of them completely gone. This year, active melting was reported at high altitudes because of the summer heatwave. Scientists estimate that even if humans are successful in reducing carbon emissions significantly, at least two-thirds of Alpine glacier volume will disappear by 2100.

Two hikers went missing on a Swiss glacier in 1992, and their bodies have now been found on a mountain. The police identified them as Belgians who died at the ages of 39 and 41. &nbsp;

Bodies of hikers missing since 1992 found under melting Swiss glacier

Europe’s seas are experiencing an intense burst of warming this summer, with climate change emerging as the main force behind the rise. A new assessment by the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group found that human-caused warming added about 2 degrees Celsius to Mediterranean sea temperatures and more than 1.3 degrees Celsius to 1.4 degrees Celsius across Western European waters.The researchers reached their conclusions by comparing observational records with climate model simulations.“From the Atlantic waters off Ireland to the Mediterranean Sea, Europe's seas are experiencing an alarming surge in temperatures,” said Thomas Frolicher, an environmental physicist at the University of Bern and co-author of the study.<h2>Marine ecosystems under pressure</h2>The warming is not simply a matter of hotter waters. Scientists warn that marine heatwaves can push species beyond their tolerance limits, altering ecosystems and disrupting fisheries.WWA said there was “evidence of severe ecological impacts”, including species moving north towards cooler waters. Such shifts can disrupt food chains and put pressure on coastal fisheries and aquaculture.Also read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/hurricane-lala-batters-hawaii-over-40-000-left-without-power-as-storm-strengthens-to-category-1-1786850168329">Hurricane Lala batters Hawaii: Over 40,000 left without power as storm strengthens to Category 1, one dead</a>Marine ecologist John Bruno said the amount of warming needed to cause serious biological damage can be surprisingly small.“It’s only about 1 degree Celsius on coral reefs, for example,” Bruno told reporters.While some species may benefit from warmer conditions, others face significant risks. Bruno described the process as a “kind of reshuffling, reorganisation of communities”, creating what scientists call “winners and losers”.<h2>Mediterranean sees extreme temperatures</h2>Some parts of the Mediterranean recorded sea surface temperatures more than 6 degrees Celsius above normal during the hottest two weeks of July, according to WWA.Marine heatwaves have also spread across a large portion of Europe's waters. Around 90 per cent of the Bay of Biscay and Iberian coast and 80 per cent of the Western Mediterranean experienced marine heatwaves this year.Without the current 1.4 degrees Celsius of human-caused global warming, WWA estimates only about 40 per cent of these areas would have been affected.The warming could also affect people on land. Higher sea temperatures increase humidity along coastlines, potentially worsening extreme heat.Claire Bergin, a WWA co-author, said warmer seas might appear attractive to swimmers. But “the impacts on marine life beneath the surface are more serious”.The findings add to growing evidence that Europe's warming seas are becoming an increasingly serious climate and ecological threat.

Climate change added around 2 degrees Celsius to Mediterranean sea temperatures this summer, driving marine heatwaves across Europe and putting ecosystems, fisheries and coastal communities under growing pressure, study finds.

Europe’s seas are experiencing an intense burst of warming this summer, with climate change emerging as the main force behind the rise. A new assessment by the World Weather Attribution (WWA) group found that human-caused warming added about 2 degrees Celsius to Mediterranean sea temperatures and more than 1.3 degrees Celsius to 1.4 degrees Celsius across Western European waters. The researchers reached their conclusions by comparing observational records with climate model simulations. “From the Atlantic waters off Ireland to the Mediterranean Sea, Europe's seas are experiencing an alarming surge in temperatures,” said Thomas Frolicher, an environmental physicist at the University of Bern and co-author of the study. Marine ecosystems under pressure The warming is not simply a matter of hotter waters. Scientists warn that marine heatwaves can push species beyond their tolerance limits, altering ecosystems and disrupting fisheries. WWA said there was “evidence of severe ecological impacts”, including species moving north towards cooler waters. Such shifts can disrupt food chains and put pressure on coastal fisheries and aquaculture. Also read | Hurricane Lala batters Hawaii: Over 40,000 left without power as storm strengthens to Category 1, one dead Marine ecologist John Bruno said the amount of warming needed to cause serious biological damage can be surprisingly small. “It’s only about 1 degree Celsius on coral reefs, for example,” Bruno told reporters. While some species may benefit from warmer conditions, others face significant risks. Bruno described the process as a “kind of reshuffling, reorganisation of communities”, creating what scientists call “winners and losers”. Mediterranean sees extreme temperatures Some parts of the Mediterranean recorded sea surface temperatures more than 6 degrees Celsius above normal during the hottest two weeks of July, according to WWA. Marine heatwaves have also spread across a large portion of Europe's waters. Around 90 per cent of the Bay of Biscay and Iberian coast and 80 per cent of the Western Mediterranean experienced marine heatwaves this year. Without the current 1.4 degrees Celsius of human-caused global warming, WWA estimates only about 40 per cent of these areas would have been affected. The warming could also affect people on land. Higher sea temperatures increase humidity along coastlines, potentially worsening extreme heat. Claire Bergin, a WWA co-author, said warmer seas might appear attractive to swimmers. But “the impacts on marine life beneath the surface are more serious”. The findings add to growing evidence that Europe's warming seas are becoming an increasingly serious climate and ecological threat.

Climate change added around 2 degrees Celsius to Mediterranean sea temperatures this summer, driving marine heatwaves across Europe and putting ecosystems, fisheries and coastal communities under growing pressure, study finds.

Europe’s seas are boiling: Climate change adds 2°C to Mediterranean heat, study finds

Scientists have issued a warning about a storm in California that could inundate residential areas with floodwaters as high as 20 feet and submerge everything between San Francisco and Los Angeles. This scenario has been named ARkStorm 2.0 and involves a chain of storms hitting the state one after the other, leading to a scene similar to the biblical flood, not only in name (ARkStorm - a direct play on Noah’s Ark from the biblical Genesis flood narrative) but also in the scale of devastation.&nbsp;ARkStorm stands for "Atmospheric River 1,000-year Storm" and was developed by the US Geological Survey (USGS) and federal, state and academic experts in 2010. The purpose was to help prepare for an extreme weather disaster driven by atmospheric rivers. These long and narrow corridors flowing in the sky carry water vapour from the tropics towards higher latitudes. When they reach California, ARs slam into coastal mountains or the Sierra Nevada, with condensation leading to heavy rain or snow.&nbsp;They are integral to the state's water supply and weather, but a glitch can cause them to sometimes arrive in quick succession. This would trigger a deluge, floods of astronomical levels, and landslides. In the ARkStorm 2.0 scenario, multiple atmospheric rivers will slam into the West Coast over nearly 30 days, dumping huge amounts of rain and snow, the Daily Mail reported. Floodwaters could reach 20 feet in some areas, more than 1.5 million people would have to be evacuated, and the losses from the destruction will exceed $1 trillion.Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/sea-ice-twice-the-size-of-rajasthan-goes-missing-from-antarctica-in-winter-1781702114417">Sea ice twice the size of Rajasthan goes missing from Antarctica in winter</a>&nbsp;California has been historically hit by several floods, including the Great Flood of 1861-62. Storms wreaked havoc across the state for nearly 45 days, and the Central Valley turned into a lake nearly 500 kilometres long. Everything submerged in the deluge, and the capital had to be shifted to San Francisco. ARkStorm 2.0 was modelled on this massive flood.&nbsp;Historical records show that California has witnessed storms worse than the one in 1861. At least six storms have struck the state in the past 1,800 years, which proves another massive storm could be coming.<h2>How climate change worsens the storm situation in California</h2>With climate change a very real threat today, this scenario is becoming increasingly plausible. In 2022, scientists explored how this would happen in a warmer world. The "expanding atmospheric sponge effect" is one of the changes, which means for every 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit of warming, storms will have nearly seven per cent more water vapour in the atmosphere to play with. Weather events such as this that used to occur once every two centuries could happen three times per century by around 2060.Also Read: <a href="https://www.wionews.com/trending/china-storms-strong-winds-fling-woman-into-air-tornado-plucks-man-from-high-rise-building-1783571900938">China storms: Strong winds fling woman into air, tornado plucks man from high-rise building</a>&nbsp;Secondly, the frozen precipitation in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada would start falling as rainfall, with the warmer waters melting more snow, thus adding to the water levels. The runoff would rise by 200 to 400 per cent and cause rivers to be filled and spread through the Central Valley. The USGS has said that the existing flood defences, such as the levees, canals and pumping stations, are not built to withstand ARkStorm 2.0.&nbsp;California is working to strengthen the systems in place to fight such a storm. It will spend an estimated $30 billion over 30 years for this. However, experts say the timeline needs to speed up, even though there is no clarity on when this mega storm will hit California.&nbsp; &nbsp;

California could witness a catastrophic storm in the coming years, according to scientists. The scenario has been named ARkStorm 2.0, a wordplay on Noah's Ark and the Great Flood mentioned in the Bible, because this one would also be mammoth. 

Scientists have issued a warning about a storm in California that could inundate residential areas with floodwaters as high as 20 feet and submerge everything between San Francisco and Los Angeles. This scenario has been named ARkStorm 2.0 and involves a chain of storms hitting the state one after the other, leading to a scene similar to the biblical flood, not only in name (ARkStorm - a direct play on Noah’s Ark from the biblical Genesis flood narrative) but also in the scale of devastation. ARkStorm stands for "Atmospheric River 1,000-year Storm" and was developed by the US Geological Survey (USGS) and federal, state and academic experts in 2010. The purpose was to help prepare for an extreme weather disaster driven by atmospheric rivers. These long and narrow corridors flowing in the sky carry water vapour from the tropics towards higher latitudes. When they reach California, ARs slam into coastal mountains or the Sierra Nevada, with condensation leading to heavy rain or snow. They are integral to the state's water supply and weather, but a glitch can cause them to sometimes arrive in quick succession. This would trigger a deluge, floods of astronomical levels, and landslides. In the ARkStorm 2.0 scenario, multiple atmospheric rivers will slam into the West Coast over nearly 30 days, dumping huge amounts of rain and snow, the Daily Mail reported. Floodwaters could reach 20 feet in some areas, more than 1.5 million people would have to be evacuated, and the losses from the destruction will exceed $1 trillion. Also Read: Sea ice twice the size of Rajasthan goes missing from Antarctica in winter California has been historically hit by several floods, including the Great Flood of 1861-62. Storms wreaked havoc across the state for nearly 45 days, and the Central Valley turned into a lake nearly 500 kilometres long. Everything submerged in the deluge, and the capital had to be shifted to San Francisco. ARkStorm 2.0 was modelled on this massive flood. Historical records show that California has witnessed storms worse than the one in 1861. At least six storms have struck the state in the past 1,800 years, which proves another massive storm could be coming. How climate change worsens the storm situation in California With climate change a very real threat today, this scenario is becoming increasingly plausible. In 2022, scientists explored how this would happen in a warmer world. The "expanding atmospheric sponge effect" is one of the changes, which means for every 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit of warming, storms will have nearly seven per cent more water vapour in the atmosphere to play with. Weather events such as this that used to occur once every two centuries could happen three times per century by around 2060. Also Read: China storms: Strong winds fling woman into air, tornado plucks man from high-rise building Secondly, the frozen precipitation in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada would start falling as rainfall, with the warmer waters melting more snow, thus adding to the water levels. The runoff would rise by 200 to 400 per cent and cause rivers to be filled and spread through the Central Valley. The USGS has said that the existing flood defences, such as the levees, canals and pumping stations, are not built to withstand ARkStorm 2.0. California is working to strengthen the systems in place to fight such a storm. It will spend an estimated $30 billion over 30 years for this. However, experts say the timeline needs to speed up, even though there is no clarity on when this mega storm will hit California.

California could witness a catastrophic storm in the coming years, according to scientists. The scenario has been named ARkStorm 2.0, a wordplay on Noah's Ark and the Great Flood mentioned in the Bible, because this one would also be mammoth.&nbsp;

California at risk of ARkStorm, a 1,000-year megastorm caused by a 30-day lashing

Scientists are turning to an unlikely ally beneath the ocean surface: sharks.

Researchers at the University of Delaware are fitting sharks with tiny CTD tags that measure temperature, salinity and depth as the animals travel through the Atlantic Ocean.

When the sharks return to the surface, the tags transmit their data to satellites, transforming their natural movements into valuable ocean observations.

Scientists hope these measurements could provide information from parts of the ocean that are difficult and expensive to monitor using conventional methods. The data could eventually help researchers better understand the ocean conditions that influence hurricane development, intensity and movement.

Sharks Become Ocean Sensors | Scientists Explore New Way to Predict Hurricanes Using Shark Movements

A powerful El Niño event is raising concerns across emerging economies as experts warn of weaker harvests, rising food prices, and renewed inflation pressures. Forecasts suggest the climate phenomenon could become one of the strongest in decades, affecting agricultural output, energy markets, and economic stability worldwide. Countries already grappling with elevated costs and tighter financial conditions may face additional challenges as weather disruptions intensify. From farmers and consumers to policymakers and central banks, the impact could be widespread.

El Niño threatens emerging economies

Europe's relentless heatwave is doing more than drying up rivers and lakes—it is exposing long-hidden pieces of history. As water levels plunge to historic lows, World War II relics, abandoned vessels, and other forgotten artifacts are emerging from beneath Europe's waterways.

Experts say the discoveries offer a rare glimpse into one of the darkest chapters of the 20th century while also highlighting the growing impact of climate change and prolonged drought across the continent

Europe's Heatwave Uncovers WWII Secrets Beneath Rivers | Hidden Relics Emerge as Water Levels Plunge

Kashmir's breathtaking landscapes have long made it one of India's most sought-after tourist destinations. But rapid tourism-driven construction is now raising serious environmental concerns. According to official figures, more than 5,000 hotels have been built across the Kashmir Valley since 2021, with authorities stating that around 90% allegedly lack the required approvals. Popular destinations such as Gulmarg, Pahalgam, Sonamarg, Gurez, and Doodhpathri are witnessing a surge in hotels, homestays, and commercial buildings.

Kashmir's Tourism Boom Sparks Environmental Alarm | 90% of New Hotels Allegedly Illegal

Kashmir's breathtaking landscapes have long made it one of India's most sought-after tourist destinations. But rapid tourism-driven construction is now raising serious environmental concerns. According to official figures, more than 5,000 hotels have been built across the Kashmir Valley since 2021, with authorities stating that around 90% allegedly lack the required approvals. Popular destinations such as Gulmarg, Pahalgam, Sonamarg, Gurez, and Doodhpathri are witnessing a surge in hotels, homestays, and commercial buildings.


Kashmir's Tourism Boom Sparks Environmental Fears | 90% of New Hotels Allegedly Illegal

India's monsoon emergency continues to intensify as devastating floods wreak havoc across multiple states, with Assam remaining the worst affected. The flood death toll in Assam has climbed to 78, while more than 3 lakh people across seven districts continue to battle rising waters, damaged homes, and widespread destruction. Over 550 villages remain submerged, and more than 21,500 hectares of farmland have been destroyed, severely impacting livelihoods. Relief and rescue operations are underway as authorities distribute food, clothing, and essential supplies to affected communities. Union Home Minister Amit Shah has reviewed the flood situation with Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and assured all possible assistance from the central government. An inter-ministerial team has also completed its assessment of flood damage in Upper Assam.

Assam Flood Death Toll Rises to 78 as Heavy Rain Triggers Fresh Alerts Across India

Europe is battling one of its most destructive wildfire seasons as Spain and France continue to face rapidly spreading blazes fueled by extreme heat, dry conditions, and strong winds. In eastern Spain, a deadly wildfire near Valencia has claimed one life, while firefighters have managed to bring parts of the blaze under control. Large areas have been reduced to ashes, with nearby communities suffering extensive damage. The wildfire emergency has also spread across regions surrounding Madrid, forcing authorities to issue mass evacuation orders. Spain's Military Emergency Unit has been deployed to support rescue operations, while firefighters continue battling flames using helicopters, water bombers, and ground crews. Tens of thousands of residents have fled their homes, and many others are receiving medical treatment for smoke inhalation.

Europe Wildfires Rage On | Spain and France Battle Deadly Blazes | Thousands Evacuated

Europe is battling one of its most severe wildfire emergencies as devastating blazes continue to spread across Spain and France, forcing mass evacuations and stretching emergency services to their limits.

In eastern Spain, firefighters worked tirelessly to contain a deadly wildfire near Valencia, where one person lost their life. Dramatic visuals show emergency crews using helicopters and water tankers to battle flames as nearby buildings and landscapes were left covered in ash. Authorities say the blaze in Manises has been brought under control, but smoke continues to pose health risks for residents.

Europe Wildfires rage on: Spain & France battle deadly blazes | Thousands evacuated 

France and Spain are battling one of the worst wildfire emergencies in recent years as extreme heat, dry conditions, and powerful winds fuel massive blazes across Western Europe.

In France, thousands of residents have been evacuated after wildfires burned more than 14,000 hectares, forcing people to flee by land and sea. Tourist destinations have also been affected as emergency crews race to contain the flames.

In Spain, firefighters are battling fast-moving wildfires near Madrid and other regions, while authorities have declared emergency measures. NASA even evacuated one of its deep-space communication facilities as flames approached the area. European Union countries have deployed specialized firefighting aircraft to support efforts across both nations.

Europe Wildfire Crisis | France and Spain Battle massive blazes amid extreme heat

Tara Polar Station is an aluminium igloo travelling to the Arctic with 12 people and a dog on board. It will drift through the North Pole for nearly 500 days and collect samples to study the impact of climate change. It will be a risky affair and is the first of 10 expeditions over 20 years.

Tara Polar Station is an aluminium igloo travelling to the Arctic with 12 people and a dog on board. It will drift through the North Pole for nearly 500 days and collect samples to study the impact of climate change. It will be a risky affair and is the first of 10 expeditions over 20 years.

500 days, -52 C, polar bears and total isolation: 12 humans and a dog undertake an arduous North Pole expedition

Torrential monsoon rains have triggered devastating flash floods and landslides in Nagaland, leaving at least eight people dead and several others injured. Homes have been washed away, roads blocked, and rescue teams continue searching for those feared trapped under debris. Authorities have deployed disaster response teams, police, and Assam Rifles personnel as heavy rainfall continues to batter the region.

Nagaland flash floods turn deadly | 8 Killed, landslides trigger massive destruction

Heavy monsoon rains have triggered devastating flash floods and landslides across Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch and Rajouri districts, killing at least 10 people and leaving many missing. Rescue teams from the NDRF, SDRF, police, and local administration are working round the clock as roads, bridges, and homes have been destroyed. Authorities have issued fresh weather warnings as relief operations continue.

Monsoon fury in Jammu & Kashmir | Deadly flash floods and landslides wreak havoc


Massive wildfire smoke from Canada has spread across major cities in both Canada and the United States, triggering hazardous air quality alerts and reducing visibility. Toronto, Detroit, Chicago, Minneapolis, and New York have all been affected as officials warn of serious health risks from toxic smoke while wildfires continue to burn across northwestern Ontario.

Canadian wildfire smoke engulfs US & Canada | Air quality alerts issued as wildfires rage

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