The stretch of the subcontinent that runs from eastern Pakistan across northern India into Bangladesh is likely the world's most intensively irrigated region. A new NCAR study shows that between 2002 and 2008, the region depleted groundwater at a rate of around 13 cubic miles per year.

Arctic temperatures in the 1990s reached their warmest level of any decade in at least 2,000 years, new research indicates.

Along with unusually persistent rains, there was a different kind of watery surprise this summer for people on the U.S. Atlantic coast. From the barrier islands of the Southeast to the rocky shores of Maine, tides ran as high as 2 feet above predicted values.

Subtle connections between the 11-year solar cycle, the stratosphere, and the tropical Pacific Ocean work in sync to generate periodic weather patterns that affect much of the globe, according to research appearing this week in the journal Science.