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AI model can predict lightning-induced wildfires with unprecedented accuracy

Thu, 04/03/2025 - 16:06
A new artificial intelligence (AI) model developed by Israeli researchers promises to revolutionize wildfire prediction, with a particular focus on lightning-induced blazes that are growing increasingly common due to climate change. The new AI model can predict where and when lightning strikes are most likely to cause wildfires, achieving more than 90% accuracy—a first in wildfire forecasting.

Why not every saltwater inflow benefits the Baltic Sea equally

Thu, 04/03/2025 - 15:48
Eutrophication and oxygen depletion are well-known threats to the ecological balance of the Baltic Sea, which is increasingly under pressure due to climate change. In this context, large saltwater inflows from the North Sea play a crucial role. They transport oxygen-rich water into the deeper layers of the Baltic Sea, counteracting oxygen deficiency and so-called dead zones.

Long-term measurements reveal cloud sensitivity to changes in atmospheric aerosol concentrations

Thu, 04/03/2025 - 15:21
An international study led by the University of Eastern Finland and the Finnish Meteorological Institute has demonstrated that the formation and properties of lower-atmosphere clouds are highly sensitive to changes in atmospheric aerosol concentrations.

A novel approach to assess sources and spatial-temporal variations of atmospheric mercury

Thu, 04/03/2025 - 14:55
A research team, led by Professor Sung-Deuk Choi from the Department of Civil, Urban, Earth, and Environmental Engineering at UNIST, has developed a novel assessment technique to accurately identify the sources and spatial-temporal distribution of atmospheric mercury. The study has been published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials.

How hidden lakes threaten Antarctic ice sheet stability

Thu, 04/03/2025 - 13:21
For decades, satellites have played a crucial role in our understanding of the remote polar regions. The ongoing loss of Antarctic ice, due to the climate crisis, is, sadly, no longer surprising. However, satellites do more than just track the accelerating flow of glaciers toward the ocean and measure ice thickness.

Ocean mixing intensifies central Pacific ENSO via diabatic heating, study reveals

Thu, 04/03/2025 - 12:39
The El Niño and Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is one of the most influential interannual climate phenomena in the global ocean-atmospheric system, with profound impacts on weather patterns, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region.

For the first time in 25 years, California has a snowpack trifecta

Wed, 04/02/2025 - 18:58
The year may have started with a dry spell, but the end of California's storm season has brought more fresh snow to the Sierra Nevada, pushing the state's snowpack to 96% of average on April 1, when the snow season typically reaches its peak.

Helicopter-mounted sensor reveals volcanic CO₂ emissions could be three times higher than anticipated

Wed, 04/02/2025 - 18:16
Estimates of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from volcanoes may have been significantly underestimated, according to new research by The University of Manchester.

Hunga volcano eruption's unexpected Southern Hemisphere cooling effect challenges geoengineering assumptions

Wed, 04/02/2025 - 17:23
When Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai, an underwater volcano near Tonga in the South Pacific Ocean, erupted in 2022, scientists expected that it would spew enough water vapor into the stratosphere to push global temperatures past the 1.5 C threshold set by the Paris Accords. A new UCLA-led study shows that not only did the eruption not warm the planet, but it actually reduced temperatures over the Southern Hemisphere by 0.1 C.

Gliding avalanches: Field monitoring tackles the great unknowns

Wed, 04/02/2025 - 16:22
In a gliding avalanche, the entire snowpack slides down a suitable substratum such as grass or slabs of rock. Such avalanches are always released naturally. This requires the snow on the ground to become moist. In winter, this happens from below, when residual heat from summer is still stored in the ground.

Early Earth's first crust composition discovery rewrites geological timeline

Wed, 04/02/2025 - 15:00
Researchers have made a new discovery that changes our understanding of Earth's early geological history, challenging beliefs about how our continents formed and when plate tectonics began.

Southern Ocean warming could lead to wetter Pacific coasts for centuries to come

Wed, 04/02/2025 - 13:45
People along the densely populated Pacific coasts are exposed to strongly fluctuating rainfall patterns: In East Asia, heavy rain falls in summer, and flooding is already one of the climate risks in this region today. The western U.S., on the other hand, is often hit by extreme drought in summer, and the question of how much precipitation the winter will bring is fundamental to appropriate preventive measures.

Study finds Rocky Mountain snow contamination from mines

Wed, 04/02/2025 - 13:25
Mountain snowpacks accumulate snow throughout the winter, building up stores of water that will supply communities across the American West throughout the long dry season.

Lingering El Niño events are becoming more common: Study uncovers 7,000-year trend

Wed, 04/02/2025 - 13:22
An international team of geoscientists, marine geologists, climatologists, and environmental specialists has found that lingering El Niño events have increased in frequency over the past 7,000 years. In their study published in Nature Geoscience, the group analyzed oxygen isotopes trapped in Pacific Ocean corals and used the findings to create a simulation showing occurrences of El Niño events and their lengths over time.

Simulating the origin and evolution of the North Atlantic Oscillation shows how it helped shape Earth

Wed, 04/02/2025 - 08:09
A simulation on the origin and evolution of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) has been conducted by a PKU research team led by Nie Ji, Associate Professor of the School of Physics; and Hu Yongyun, Dean of the Institute of Ocean Research, along with a research team from National Natural Science Foundation of China.

North America is dripping from below, geoscientists discover

Tue, 04/01/2025 - 20:27
Researchers have discovered that the underside of the North American continent is dripping away in blobs of rock—and that the remnants of a tectonic plate sinking in Earth's mantle may be the reason why.

Enhanced westerly winds lead to increased ocean heat transport to the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, study finds

Tue, 04/01/2025 - 20:24
A research group led by Associate Professor Kohei Mizobata, Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, including researchers from the National Institute of Polar Research, the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, and the Institute of Low Temperature Science (Hokkaido University), has found that enhanced westerly winds associated with global warming will strengthen the clockwise circulations and transport heat to the ice sheet in the East Antarctic coastal area.

The rivers that science says shouldn't exist

Tue, 04/01/2025 - 19:01
Rivers join downstream, flow downhill, and eventually meet an ocean or terminal lake: These are fundamental rules of how waterways and basins are supposed to work. But rules are made to be broken. In the journal Water Resources Research, Sowby and Siegel lay out nine rivers and lakes in the Americas that defy hydrologic expectations.

Tree rings from Canada's Gaspésie mountains reveal effects of global warming dating back almost a century

Tue, 04/01/2025 - 18:53
A study of tree rings in the Gaspesie's Sainte-Anne River area reveals that snowpacks have been declining noticeably in the region's mountains for nearly nine decades. The researchers say the phenomenon is directly linked to global warming.

New research reveals dramatically higher loss of GDP under 4°C warming

Tue, 04/01/2025 - 09:36
New projections by the UNSW Institute for Climate Risk & Response (ICRR) reveal a 4°C rise in global temperatures would cut world GDP by around 40% by 2100—a stark increase from previous estimates of around 11%.

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