A team of researchers, including NCAR scientist Carl Schmitt, are climbing high in the Peruvian Andes to assess the extent to which the white ice is being darkened by ash and other particulates that are emitted by nearby industrial operations. The dark particles can accelerate glacial melting, eventually threatening runoff that supplies water for millions of South American residents.

The "waste heat" generated by everyday activities in metropolitan areas alters atmospheric circulation patterns, warming or cooling temperatures across a large region.

Two leading climate-change researchers cast new light on one of the most prominent findings of the last major IPCC report, issued in 2007.

Even as the rest of the nation baked in 2012, Alaska froze. The contiguous 48 U.S. states saw their warmest year on record by far, but it was one of Alaska's chilliest.

West Antarctica is experiencing nearly twice as much warming as previously thought.