Heat Wave, Study | featured news

The summer heat waves over the past decade that killed thousands of people in Europe, scorched the Russian wheat crop, and sent Greenland's glaciers galloping to the sea are without parallel since at least 1400, according to a new study. The findings are based on a statistical analysis of summer seasonal temperatures inferred from tree rings, ice cores, lake sediments, and instrumental records.

Led by NASA’s James E. Hansen, the study said it was nearly certain that events like the 2011 Texas heat wave were caused by the human release of greenhouse gases.