Chelsea Harvey

Worries about thawing permafrost, and the carbon emissions it produces as it warms, have become a standard in conversations about climate change. And one of the biggest questions has to do with some of the tiniest inhabitants of the Arctic.

Research suggests that marijuana production in the U.S. accounts for 1 percent of the entire nation's electrical output. That's the equivalent of the electricity used by 1.7 million homes -- with a staggering price tag of $6 billion every year. Most of this electricity is used to facilitate indoor cultivation.

The state of the world's fish stocks may be in worse shape than official reports indicate, according to new data – a possibility with worrying consequences for both international food security and marine ecosystems.

While changes in air temperature, water temperature and precipitation are known to influence melting events on the ice sheet, a new study has identified another, perhaps less obvious culprit: clouds.

Recent changes to the island's snow and ice cover appear to have affected its ability to store excess water, meaning more melting ice may be running off into the ocean than previously thought, a new study finds.

Until recently, scientists have known very little about how much methane is released by permafrost during the cold winter months. But a team of researchers working in Alaska recently found that cold-season methane emissions are not only not negligible -- they're pretty significant.

While animals do occasionally wander outside of their ranges, scientists are starting to believe that the recent flurry of movements between the Atlantic and Pacific ocean basins are early evidence of yet another consequence of climate change.

A new study says polar bears in Alaska and Russia's Chukchi Sea region are spending more time on land in the summers as the amount of summer sea ice in the region continues to shrink. And that could lead to myriad problems -- not only for the bears, but also for the humans they may run into.

Antarctica has been the subject of increasing concern as rising temperatures cause more ice to melt every year. The continent's massive ice sheet has the potential to cause sea levels to rise catastrophically -- nearly 200 feet, were it to melt entirely.

As Arctic sea ice melts, it could disrupt a powerful Atlantic Ocean current that regulates temperatures in Western Europe and the East Coast of North America.

A new study tackles the question of how rising temperatures can change the activity of microorganisms in the Arctic. The study focuses on methane production rather than carbon dioxide — an important issue to understand because of methane's potency.