Phys.org: Earth science

The Qinling-Bashan Mountains (QBMs) serve as an important boundary between southern and northern China and are dubbed China's Central Water Tower (CCWT). However, the spatiotemporal structures and dynamics of the summer hydroclimate, as well as the water vapor sources and mechanisms in this CCWT during the peak and most concentrated precipitation period, which is crucial for forest growth, crop yield, and water management, remain unclear.

High levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide intensify climate change, but high carbon dioxide levels can also stimulate plant growth. Plant growth removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, partially mitigating the effects of climate change. However, plants only grow faster in the presence of high levels of carbon dioxide if they can also acquire enough nitrogen from the atmosphere to do so.

Up to 30% of life, by weight, is underground. Seismic activity may renew the energy supply for subterranean ecosystems. Published in PNAS Nexus, Eric Boyd and colleagues chronicled the ecological changes in subsurface microbial communities that took place after a swarm of small earthquakes rattled the Yellowstone Plateau Volcanic Field in 2021.

The Hayli Gubbi volcano in northeast Ethiopia, believed to have been dormant for up to 12,000 years, erupted on 23 November 2025, sending a massive plume of ash and sulfur dioxide high into the atmosphere.

Earth's ocean, the planet's life-support system, is experiencing rapid and widespread transformations that extend far below its surface. A promising international study published in Nature Climate Change reveals that vast regions of the global ocean are experiencing compound state change, with simultaneously warming, becoming saltier or fresher, losing oxygen, and acidifying—clear indicators of climate change pushing marine environments into uncharted territory.

Mountains worldwide are experiencing climate change more intensely than lowland areas, with potentially devastating consequences for billions of people who live in and/or depend on these regions, according to a major global review.

Earthquake forecasting tools powered by AI can forecast the risk of aftershocks seconds after the initial tremor, a new study suggests. The machine learning models can forecast where, and how many, aftershocks will take place following an earthquake in close to real-time, researchers say.

Many ecosystems on Earth are affected by pulses of activity: temperature swings between seasons, incoming and outgoing tides, the yearly advent of rainy periods. These variations can play an important role in providing nutrients and other important inputs, but climate change often makes the amplitude of these pulses more extreme, with sometimes catastrophic results.

Florida State University oceanographers have discovered a significant connection between small-scale microbial processes and ecosystem-wide dynamics, offering new insights into the mechanisms driving marine carbon storage.

Climate change is accelerating the reorganization of river-lake systems on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, reshaping hydrological and ecological processes in the "Asian Water Tower."

Sixty-million-year-old rock samples from deep under the ocean have revealed how huge amounts of carbon dioxide are stored for millennia in piles of lava rubble that accumulate on the seafloor.

Tropical cyclones can unleash extensive devastation, as recent storms that swept over Jamaica and the Philippines made unmistakably clear. Accurate weather forecasts that buy more time to prepare are crucial for saving lives and are rooted in a deeper understanding of climate systems.

A University of Houston scientist has teamed with international partners to examine how Antarctica's massive glaciers are shifting and how that could predict sea level changes. Their latest collaboration offers the most precise mapping to date in Antarctica of grounding lines, the points where glaciers lift from bedrock and begin to float on the ocean.

Despite continuous efforts to evaluate and predict changes in Earth's climate, most models still struggle to accurately simulate extreme precipitation events. Models like the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phases 5 and 6 (CMIP5 and CMIP6) use fairly coarse resolution due to computing constraints, making it a little easier, faster and less expensive to run simulations, while still providing some degree of accuracy.

New study reveals burning of fossil fuels is accelerating winter rainfall changes in the UK and Europe, almost 25 years sooner than expected.

An international team of scientists and students, led by the Arctic University of Norway, and including chemists and engineers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, has announced a remarkable discovery of a venting system on the seafloor of the Arctic. This significant finding was made during the ongoing EXTREME25 expedition aboard the research vessel Kronprins Haakon.

Research led by polar scientists from Northumbria University has revealed new hope in natural environmental systems found in East Antarctica which could help mitigate the overall rise of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere over long timescales.

The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), a system of Atlantic Ocean currents that redistributes heat and nutrients between the tropics and the North Atlantic, is one of the planet's tipping points. That means there is a critical threshold that, once crossed, could trigger abrupt, irreversible climate shifts.

This year's COP30 comes after the international Agreement on Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) finally acquired the required number of ratification votes by United Nations member states.

When militia attacks disrupted shipping lanes in the Red Sea, few imagined the ripple effects would reach the clouds over the South Atlantic. But for Florida State University atmospheric scientist Michael Diamond, the rerouting of cargo ships offered a rare opportunity to clarify a pressing climate question—How much do cleaner fuels change how clouds form?