Climate

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - A crater lake on a New Zealand volcano used as a backdrop in the "Lord of the Rings" films is on the verge of collapsing and could send a torrent of muddy water down the mountain in coming weeks, media reported on Monday.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The world's biggest fund for environmental projects is investing for the first time in a non-renewable, polluting fuel -- coal -- in what it says is a new pragmatic approach to the energy needs of the developing world.

OSLO (Reuters) - A U.N. climate panel will project wrenching disruptions to nature by 2100 in a report next week blaming human use of fossil fuels more clearly than ever for global warming, scientific sources said.

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australians are facing an increasing snake menace as searing weather bites and the country's worst drought in a generation rolls on.

BOSTON (Reuters) - Mining heat stored in rocks in the Earth's crust could meet a growing portion of U.S. electricity demand, replacing aging nuclear and coal plants with an environmentally friendly alternative, researchers say.

LONDON (Reuters) - Parts of the world could heat up by over 10 degrees Celsius (18 Fahrenheit) this century with big areas becoming uninhabitable, according to a climate prediction experiment.

OSLO (Reuters) - Parts of the North Atlantic are setting winter heat records, allowing species ranging from swordfish to jellyfish to thrive beyond their normal ranges in a shift linked by many scientists to global warming.

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - Joe D'Aleo was a rare voice of dissent this week at the American Meteorological Society's annual meeting in San Antonio.

NASA is preparing to launch a new mission to learn more about the causes of atmospheric substorms. A substorm is a period of intense geomagnetic activity, visible to observers as a sudden brightening of the polar aurorae.

OSLO (Reuters) - Indonesia and perhaps Australia risk more droughts because of shifts in Indian Ocean temperatures and stronger monsoons widely linked to global warming, scientists said on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. scientists and evangelical Christian leaders joined forces on Wednesday to protect the environment from the ravages of global warming, calling on President George W. Bush and others in power to help.

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - The U.S. satellite system that monitors Earth's environment and climate needs an urgent upgrade or scientists will lose much of their ability to predict events like hurricanes, according to a report released by the National Research Council on Monday.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's top business lobby could spark policy change on global warming by sending a strong message to its counterparts in the United States, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore said in a speech in Tokyo on Monday.