Physical geography

The water level of dams that meet Istanbul's water needs has decreased to 33 percent, while the existing water reserve can meet the water requirements for only up to three-and-a-half months, Agriculture and Forestry Ministry Vahit Kirişçi has warned.

Europe experienced its second-warmest year on record in 2022, European Union scientists said on Tuesday, as climate change unleashed record-breaking weather extremes that slashed crop yields, dried up rivers and led to thousands of deaths.

Half of the Earth's glaciers, notably smaller ones, are destined to disappear by the end of the century because of climate change, but limiting global warming could save others, according to a new study.

The findings, published in the journal Science on Jan. 5, provide the most comprehensive look so far at the future of the world's 215,000 glaciers.

Immortalized in Victoria Hislop's award-winning novel, "The Island," the uninhabited islet of Spinalonga has a long and tragic past. Known by its grim epithet, the "island of the living dead," and nestled in the picturesque Elounda Bay of northeast Crete, the islet was home to one of Europe's last leper colonies, active from 1903 to 1957.

As the water level in the dams that meet the water need of Istanbul has decreased to 32 percent, the experts have pointed out the use of the cloud seeding method, also known as rain bomb, to combat drought.

The drought experienced in the autumn period has continued since the beginning of the winter, while the risk of water scarcity became one of the most urgent problems in Istanbul.

Fish that have lost food due to mass coral bleaching are getting into more unnecessary fights, causing them to expend precious energy and potentially threatening their survival, new research said on Jan 3.

With the future of the world's coral reefs threatened by climate change, a team of researchers studied how a mass bleaching event affected 38 species of butterflyfish.

Slovenia has a rich underground world with caves large and small dotting the country. They have attracted cavers, visitors and researchers from near and afar for centuries, but also people who used them as a handy way to dump their waste. As a result, 20-30% of Slovenian caves are now thought to be polluted and cleaning them is a major challenge.

The heat wave that started about a month ago will extend and the unseasonable "summer" weather - with temperatures averaging 3 to 4 degrees above normal for the season - will last until the end of next week, with Epiphany expected to be sunny.

Within the scope of the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry's efforts to combat drought, farmers across the country will receive training on protecting the quality and quantity of water resources and observing the usage balance.

The ministry will implement measures to ensure food safety against climate change within the scope of combating drought.

Whether they realize it or not, some 7.6 billion people - 96% of humanity - have felt the impact of global warming on temperatures in the past 12 months, researchers say.

But some regions have felt it much more strongly and more often than others, according to a report by Climate Central, a climate science think tank.