Build nature-based structures such as plantings that buffer coasts.

Stop building new structures right along coastlines.

Shift work hours away from times of peak heat.

Provide hydration and frequent breaks for those working in extreme heat.

Build bigger and better culverts to handle bigger rainstorms.

Conserve water.

Plant cover crops to maintain healthy soils and conserve moisture.

Help people prepare with drought and wildfire warning and watch systems.

Use nature-based techniques to soak up and manage stormwater.

Provide weather safety information in multiple languages and in multiple ways.

Maintain areas around power lines to reduce storm damage and power outages.

Support research on reef conservation and restoration.

Reduce other pressures on reefs, such as pollution...

Earth has a balanced energy budget. Incoming energy from the Sun is balanced by outgoing energy emitted by the Earth.

Sunlight consists of visible, infrared, and ultraviolet light. The Sun radiates visible light most strongly, and the sunlight that reaches the Earth’s surface is mostly visible light.

The Earth’s surface absorbs the visible sunlight and warms. Then it re-radiates the absorbed energy at long infrared wavelengths. Even though the Earth is radiating energy, we don’t see it glow because long-wavelength infrared energy is invisible to people.

Most gases in the atmosphere are transparent to infrared energy, but some gases, like carbon dioxide and methane, absorb infrared.

The Earth’s surface absorbs the visible sunlight and warms. Then it re-radiates the absorbed energy at long infrared wavelengths. Even though the Earth is radiating energy, we don’t see it glow because long-wavelength infrared energy is invisible to people.

Most gases in the atmosphere are transparent to infrared energy, but some gases, like carbon dioxide and methane, absorb infrared.

When carbon dioxide absorbs infrared energy, the molecules vibrate and collide with other gas molecules. This raises the temperature of the atmosphere. The absorbed energy is re-radiated in all directions: some back to Earth, some out to space, some re-absorbed by other molecules.

Gases that absorb infrared energy are called greenhouse gases. The more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the warmer the atmosphere gets before the outgoing infrared energy finally leaves the Earth system.

Drill rig on the West Antarctic ice sheet.

Photo: Mark Dreier

2,000 meters depth is reached in a core from the West Antarctic ice sheet. The researcher is working in the field, inside a structure that is cold but sheltered from the wind.

Photo: Kristina (Dahnert) Slawny