science
Antarctic Sea Ice Reaches Its Third-Lowest Maximum on Record
Antarctic sea ice likely reached its annual maximum on September 14, 2026, covering 17.59 million square kilometres. That was the third-lowest maximum in the satellite record.
Khabre desk
climate science
Recent reporting, analysis and explainers from the climate science desk.
science
Canopy height rose across nearly all eastern US forest regions, but varied in the West
A bioRxiv preprint analysing more than two million tree measurements finds canopy height mostly increased across eastern US ecoregions, while changes varied in the West. Shifts in tree populations and in how tree dimensions relate to one another both contributed.
science
Forecasts put this El Niño on track to break records
Sea-surface temperatures in the central tropical Pacific were about 2.9°C above the current climate baseline in early September, and forecasts give the event more than a 90% chance of surpassing every El Niño recorded since the 1870s. The expected effects vary by region but include drought, crop losses, peatland fires, floods and coral bleaching.