Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Ambarish Karmalkar

Ruth Mottram @ruthmottram.bsky.social · 5d

Incidentally, the very nice schematic of cryosphere changes over both ice sheets was drawn by @jmalumbresolarte.bsky.social Tak! 🙏

New paper out today in @nature Geosciences:
The Greenlandification of Antarctica

Readcube pdf: rdcu.be/eJiqJ

The Greenlandification of Antarctica | Nature Geoscience

Climate and ice sheet processes in Antarctica increasingly reflect those observed earlier in Greenland. Applying process insights from Greenland can improve projections of future Antarctic ice and climate behaviour.

rdcu.be

3 35 84

Reposted by Ambarish Karmalkar

Dr. Crystal A. Kolden @pyrogeog.bsky.social · 6d

Published today: our new paper showing a 44-year trend of increasing global wildfire disasters (fatalities and economic losses) due to climate change-induced extreme weather. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Climate-linked escalation of societally disastrous wildfires

Climate change and land mismanagement are creating increasingly fire-prone built and natural environments. However, despite worsening fire seasons, evidence is lacking globally for trends in socially ...

www.science.org

7 200 390

Ambarish Karmalkar @ambarish.bsky.social · 8d

How to estimate the population of Emperor penguins in Antarctica?

Look for brown guano stains in satellite imagery.
youtu.be/CjgrhCQLOWU

Emperor penguins facing extinction? Huge 22% population drop explained | British Antarctic Survey

YouTube video by British Antarctic Survey

youtu.be

2

Ambarish Karmalkar @ambarish.bsky.social · 24d

"Given emerging evidence of widening achievement gaps in other developed countries, factors that transcend national boundaries merit special consideration." www.edweek.org/policy-polit...

Student Test Scores Keep Falling. What’s Really to Blame? (Opinion)

There’s strong circumstantial evidence pointing to a particular culprit. (Hint: It’s not the pandemic.)

www.edweek.org

2

Reposted by Ambarish Karmalkar

Rishika Pardikar @rishpardikar.bsky.social · 26d

India's environment ministry has issued an order stating mining for critical minerals can go ahead without public hearing. Historically, these hearings are where local communities raise concerns about land rights and environmental issues

www.downtoearth.org.in/mining/criti...

Critical, strategic and atomic mineral mining projects in India can now be approved without public hearing

New mining projects of atomic minerals (such as uranium, thorium), critical minerals and strategic minerals (such as rare earth elements) being started in India

www.downtoearth.org.in

1 21 43

Reposted by Ambarish Karmalkar

Paul Kelleher 🎃 @paulkelleher.net · Aug 31

August 31st / September 2nd

Harrison Ford shirtless in Temple of Doom

Harrison Ford in a 3 piece suit in front of classroom in Raiders

1 9 51

Reposted by Ambarish Karmalkar

Copernicus ECMWF @copernicusecmwf.bsky.social · Aug 19

#Wildfires in Spain have reached record emissions in just one week according to our #CopernicusAtmosphere data. Heatwaves & drought are fueling fires, forcing evacuations & worsening air quality hundreds of km away. 🔥 Read the article for details
atmosphere.copernicus.eu/spain-below-...

6 160 210

Ambarish Karmalkar @ambarish.bsky.social · Aug 20

Addressing plastic pollution and hunger simultaneously. www.bbc.com/future/artic...

Rice, two curries and dal: The Indian cafes where you can pay in rubbish

Garbage cafes are springing up across India. The BBC visits the city of Ambikapur to find out how much impact they can really have on plastic – and people.

www.bbc.com

1 2

Ambarish Karmalkar @ambarish.bsky.social · Aug 19

What's behind the summer "warming hole" in parts of the contiguous US? www.cnn.com/2025/08/19/c...

The strange divide in how Americans experience summer temperatures | CNN

Average temperatures elide a complex reality: The country’s experience of hotter summers — and thus one of the most visceral aspects of climate change itself — is fractured along geographic lines.

www.cnn.com

5 7

Ambarish Karmalkar @ambarish.bsky.social · Aug 9

Not a single mention of food waste in this article.

theconversation.com/by-changing-...

By changing our diets now, we can avoid the food chaos that climate change is bringing

By choosing to transform how we grow food and what we eat – rather than letting climate change dictate the pace of change – we have so much to gain.

theconversation.com

2 2 6

Reposted by Ambarish Karmalkar

Rishika Pardikar @rishpardikar.bsky.social · Aug 6

Report on how land-use change like deforestation and conversation from agriculture to urban sprawl are making cities in one Indian state hotter. Land-use change influences the climate and its impacts are more tangible at the local level

india.mongabay.com/2025/08/a-ne...

A new analysis in a warming state links land use change to increasing heat

Tamil Nadu recently released a block-level analysis of how land use change is impacting heat across the state.

india.mongabay.com

1 8 10

Ambarish Karmalkar @ambarish.bsky.social · Aug 5

So confident that now I am full of self-doubt

1 1

Ambarish Karmalkar @ambarish.bsky.social · Aug 3

Me, my coauthor, three reviewers, and the editor..we all got it wrong but …

1 2

Reposted by Ambarish Karmalkar

Gavin Schmidt @climateofgavin.bsky.social · Aug 1

AI in the DOE report? This ref (p29) is fake:

Lee, S., Byrne, M. P., Loikith, P. C., & O’Dell, C. W. (2024). Zonal contrasts of the tropical Pacific climate predicted by a global constraint. Climate Dynamics, 62(1–2), 229–246. doi:10.1007/s00382-023-06741-7

www.realclimate.org/index.php/ar...

RealClimate: The Endangerment of the Endangerment Finding?

RealClimate: The EPA, along with the "Climate Working Group" (CWG) of usual suspects (plus Judith Curry and Ross McKitrick) at DOE, have just put out a document for public comment their attempt to res...

www.realclimate.org

10 110 270

Ambarish Karmalkar @ambarish.bsky.social · Aug 2

People say chatgpt is great for brainstorming ideas. I asked it a direct research question -- it cited my paper but the explanation is the exact opposite of my findings.

7 22 110

Reposted by Ambarish Karmalkar

Sang-Ki Lee @sklee621.bsky.social · Jul 27

The extreme warmth of the North Atlantic in 2023 is largely due to a reduction in low-level cloud cover. This implies decreased atmospheric subsidence followed by a potential low-level cloud & SST positive feedback. 🌊🧪 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

4 6 26

Reposted by Ambarish Karmalkar

Marshall Shepherd @drshepherd2013.bsky.social · Jul 26

If you are having trouble finding National Climate Assessment reports, they are here.

www.realclimate.org/index.php/ar...

RealClimate: National Climate Assessment links

RealClimate: For some reason, it has become hard to locate the various National Climate Assessments (NCAs) that have been produced by the USGCRP over the decades (and it's pretty hard to find the USGR...

www.realclimate.org

4 77 100

Ambarish Karmalkar @ambarish.bsky.social · Jun 7

Sinking cities from Miami to Mumbai - combination of subsiding land and rising seas www.bbc.com/news/resourc...

How groundwater pumping is causing cities to sink at 'worrying speed' - BBC News

Dozens of coastal regions around the world, including Jakarta, Lagos and Tianjin are sinking at an alarming rate.

www.bbc.com

6

Reposted by Ambarish Karmalkar

Climatologist49 @climatologist49.bsky.social · Jun 5

A record early onset to the south Asian monsoon made May the wettest on record for India (since 1940).

1 12 39

Reposted by Ambarish Karmalkar

Professor Matthew England FAA @profmattengland.bsky.social · Jun 4

Out today in Nature, our paper on the drivers of the record 2023 summer heating of the North Atlantic. Temperatures warmed to record levels in just a few months. The impacts on climate & ecosystems were severe. A thread on how this work came about and what we found.👇👇🧵 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

This is not the actual cover of Nature, just shown here for illustrative purposes. We did submit this figure for consideration for their cover. Print run in two weeks, we'll know by then if it gets used.

9 260 570

Ambarish Karmalkar @ambarish.bsky.social · May 4

Microplastics permeating ocean waters

Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · May 4

Microplastics spread throughout the ocean, not just on the surface. Small ones drift deeper; large ones get trapped near the top. Plastic even adds carbon to deep-sea particles – up to 5% at 2,000 m. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The distribution of subsurface microplastics in the ocean - Nature

Global data collected between 2014 and 2024 provide insights into the distribution and potential transport mechanisms of subsurface microplastics throughout the oceanic water column.

www.nature.com

5

Ambarish Karmalkar @ambarish.bsky.social · May 4

Did he really say, “God does not play dice"?https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05004-4

Did Einstein really say that?

As the physicist’s collected papers reach volume 15, Andrew Robinson sifts through the quotes attributed to him.

www.nature.com

2 3

Ambarish Karmalkar @ambarish.bsky.social · Apr 30

theconversation.com/did-induced-...

Did ‘induced atmospheric vibration’ cause blackouts in Europe? An electrical engineer explains the phenomenon

Whatever caused the blackout in Spain and Portugal, it highlights the vulnerabilities in some electricity grids.

theconversation.com

Ambarish Karmalkar @ambarish.bsky.social · Apr 30

And this is looking at just a minuscule patch of the sky, way smaller than the area of the sky your fingertip covers when held at arm's length.

Deep field images look like patches of fuzzy dots and blobs, but when you understand what they show ... mind blown!
esawebb.org/images/potm2...

Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.bsky.social · Apr 29

This is a new image from #JWST.

The bright points with spikes are stars in the Milky Way.

Everything else is a galaxy.

Everything. Else. Is. A. Galaxy.

1

Reposted by Ambarish Karmalkar

Kevin Anchukaitis @thirstygecko.bsky.social · Apr 26

Drought weather in the northeastern United States, authored by Laurie Agel with @mathewabarlow.bsky.social, Christopher Skinner, and @ambarish.bsky.social journals.ametsoc.org/view/journal...

journals.ametsoc.org

4 9