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Mount Etna released plumes of ash and steam in late June and early July 2008.

Dormant for more than 9,000 years, the Chaiten Volcano in southern Chile began to erupt on May 2, 2008, forcing thousands of residents from their homes. Several weeks later, the volcano remained active.

"Dry" thunderstorms triggered hundreds of fires in California on the first day of summer 2008. These images show dozens of active fires burning in the state.

Thick smoke poured from fires in Saskatchewan and Manitoba in late June 2008.

In late June 2008, melt season had begun along the west coast of Greenland.

Heavy rains flooded several rivers in the U.S. Midwest in early June 2008.

"Dry" thunderstorms triggered hundreds of fires in California on the first day of summer 2008. These images show dozens of active fires burning in the state.

The amount of carbon dioxide that the ocean can take from the atmosphere is controlled by both natural cycles and human activity.

Tropical Storms Boris and Christina appeared together in the Eastern Pacific Ocean several hundred kilometers off the Mexican Coast on June 28, 2008.

A dust storm blew through Iraq and Iran, and over the Persian Gulf in early July 2008.

"Dry" thunderstorms triggered hundreds of fires in California on the first day of summer 2008. These images show dozens of active fires burning in the state.

Heavy rains flooded several rivers in the U.S. Midwest in early June 2008.

In late June 2008, a dust storm formed over Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

Over 15,000 hectares of forest were on fire in eastern Russia in mid- to late June 2008. A huge river of smoke spread south and east from the fires on July 2.

"Dry" thunderstorms triggered hundreds of fires in California on the first day of summer 2008. These images show dozens of active fires burning in the state.

Evidence of violent eruptions on Gakkel Ridge in the Arctic defies assumptions about seafloor pressure and volcanism. (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution press release)

California's widespread native plants – those found nowhere else in the world – could disappear from their natural ranges as a result of global warming and associated changes in rainfall, according to a new study. (University of California - Berkeley press release)

Large amounts of ozone are being destroyed in the lower atmosphere over the tropical Atlantic Ocean. (The National Centre for Atmospheric Science press release)

Increased scientific confidence that ocean observations are accurately reflecting rising global temperatures is central to new Australian research. (CSIRO Australia press release)

Information gleaned from a Greenland ice core by an international science team shows that two huge Northern Hemisphere temperature spikes prior to the close of the last ice age some 11,500 years ago were tied to fundamental shifts in atmospheric circulation. (University of Colorado at Boulder press release)

New research suggests that ocean temperature and associated sea level increases between 1961 and 2003 were 50 percent higher than estimated in the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report. (DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory press release)

A team of researchers has resolved a long-standing paradox in the plant world, which should lead to far more accurate predictions of global climate change. (University of California – Davis press release)

Heavy rains flooded several rivers in the U.S. Midwest in early June 2008.

Typhoon Fengshen formed on June 19 in the Western Pacific and moved northwest across the Philippines over the next week, fluctuating between Category 1 and 2 intensity.

Heavy rains flooded several rivers in the U.S. Midwest in early June 2008.