Christopher Joyce

For the past decade, no major hurricanes have come ashore along the East Coast or Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane Matthew is ending that lucky streak.

New research reveals that the amount of methane from oil and gas operations is much larger than previously thought. But the recent uptick in methane emissions seems to be from agriculture.

Nearly 200 nations agreed last December to the most ambitious deal to slow climate change ever. It looks very likely that the requisite number of countries will actually ratify the deal this week to make it official. That will set in motion the difficult process of making sure both rich and poor countries deliver on their promises to cut emissions of greenhouse gases.

Flood managers suspect August's big rainstorms and floods in Louisiana are becoming more common there and elsewhere because of climate change. One clue: Much of the damage was beyond the flood plain.

Earth's changing climate has made the quest to understand wave behavior more important than ever, scientists say. Rising seas, storm surge and dune and reef erosion all shape Florida's Gulf Coast.

Years of drought have strained California's forests, killing millions of trees and fueling wildfires.

July 2016 was Earth's hottest month on record. And Arctic ice has shrunk this year almost as much as it did in 2012 — the most severe melt to date.

The study finds, in many cases, amounts barely higher than government guidelines allow, but significant levels in 66 water supplies. The chemicals are very persistent once in the environment.

Camp Century was a research station and test site for deploying nuclear missiles before it was abandoned under the ice in the '60s. Scientists say pollutants left behind may spread as the ice melts.

For example, June's average was up 1.62 F. A couple of degrees may not sound like much, but it's persistent warming over decades that alters the atmosphere, the oceans, and most everything else.

During the 12 months from May 2015 to May 2016, each month set an all-time heat record. That's on average around the world. Some places were not record breakers, but overall, global warming is increasing. NASA scientists talk about what the rest of this year may look like, and whether it will set yet another global record.

Scientists have been attaching transmitters on the huge seagoing birds and are astonished by their ability to stay aloft.

The National Park Service is racing to record soundscapes of each park that capture nature for the ear. "If we start to lose sounds of wilderness, we start to lose a piece of us," one scientist says.

Divers exploring the famous Antikythera shipwreck, 200 feet beneath the water's surface in Greece, have turned up a heavy object they think might have been a powerful weapon in the first century B.C.

Scientists say tiny bones dating back 700,000 years on the Indonesian island of Flores shine new light on how these mysterious, 3-foot-tall creatures got that way.

Deep in a French cave, researchers have found numerous ovals of broken stalagmites. They believe the rings were arranged by ancient Neanderthals.

Rising sea levels put extra pressure on coastal bedrock in South Florida. Eventually, as seawater moves in, it could contaminate plants on the surface and the region's stores of freshwater beneath.

Already, neighborhoods flood more often in Coral Gables, Fla., and water has seeped up from beneath low-lying buildings and yards. Mayor James Cason wants his city prepared for the economic fallout.

A nearly complete fossilized skull from Argentina helps explains the success of these giant dinosaurs that roamed some 95 million years ago.

More than 100 nations will sign the climate change deal agreed to in December. It will eventually commit nealy all the world's governments to cut back on greenhouse gases that cause global warming.