Browsing: Americas

Tropical forests currently store more than 60% of the world’s vegetation biomass, making them one of the most critical regulators of the global carbon cycle. Yet new research suggests the Amazon’s ability to retain that carbon may weaken faster than previously understood, not primarily because of declining tree growth, but because climate-driven mortality is accelerating the turnover of forest biomass.

Global mean sea level has risen by 9.4 centimeters since 2000, with satellite data showing an average annual increase of 3.64 millimeters since 1999, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service. The rate is not static. It has accelerated from 1.3 millimeters per year in the early 20th century to 3.7 millimeters per year in the most recent observational window assessed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.