A solar-powered airplane finished crossing the United States on Saturday, landing in New York City after flying over the Statue of Liberty during its historic bid to circle the globe, the project team said. The spindly, single-seat experimental aircraft, dubbed Solar Impulse 2, arrived at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport at about 4 a.m. local time after it took off about five hours beforehand at Lehigh Valley International Airport in Pennsylvania, the team reported on the airplane's website. Such a pleasure to land in New York! For the 14th time we celebrate sustainability," said the project's co-founder Andre Borschberg on Twitter after flying over the city and the Statue of Liberty during the 14th leg of the trip around the globe. The Swiss team flying the aircraft in a campaign to build support for clean energy technologies hopes eventually to complete its circumnavigation in Abu Dhabi, where the journey began in March 2015. The solar cr...
It warns big changes could be under way in the climate system with greenhouse gases increasing the impact of natural trends. The research shows that a major El Nino event is in play in the Pacific, which is expected to heat the world overall. But it also reveals that summers in Europe might get cooler for a while as the rest of the globe warms. The scientists confirm that in 2015 the Earth's average surface temperature is running at, or near, record levels.Met Office Hadley Centre director Prof Stephen Belcher said: "We know natural patterns contribute to global temperatures in any given year, but the very warm temperatures so far this year indicate the continued impact of (man made) greenhouse gases. "With the potential that next year could be similarly warm, it's clear that our climate continues to change." An external reviewer, Prof Rowan Sutton, from the University of Reading, confirmed: "Unless there's a big volcanic eruption, it l...