Phys.org: Earth science

Forest fires now burn 10 times more acreage annually than in 1985, while wildfire severity has gotten even worse. In California, 30 times more acreage burned from high-severity, forest-killing fires, according to new UCLA research.

The number of people exposed to dangerous heat stress worldwide has risen sharply over the past half-century, propelled by climate change, according to a study released Monday as Europe sweltered through a punishing heat wave.

The Caspian Sea, the largest inland body of water on Earth, is shrinking. Not fluctuating, not entering another natural cycle, but shrinking.

"What goes on in Antarctica doesn't stay in Antarctica—it has global implications," Geology tauira Natalie-Jane Reid says. Reid is one of two Otago Ph.D. candidates who contributed to an Antarctic sediment core workshop at the Otago Repository for Core Analysis (ORCA) held during the first two weeks of June. The pair joined 30 top scientists who split, scanned, described and analyzed 228 meters (748 feet) of ancient mud and rock retrieved from under the ice sheet at Crary Ice Rise in Antarctica's Ross Sea.

El Niño, characterized by warmer-than-normal water temperatures in parts of the equatorial Pacific, made its return in June 2026. Observations of sea surface height from the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite that month indicated that the 2026 event was continuing to strengthen.

In the quest to create a robust supply chain of rare earth elements necessary for the clean energy revolution and everyday modern conveniences, North America has enough deposits of sufficient quality to begin looking in its own backyard, according to a University of Michigan study published in Resources, Conservation and Recycling.

On May 8, 2026, satellites detected signs of an unexpected submarine volcanic eruption in the Bismarck Sea near the islands of Papua New Guinea. Over the next several weeks, plumes of steam and ash streamed over the sea, and areas of discolored water surrounded the eruption site. Relatively little is known about the ocean floor in this area or the volcanic feature that is presently erupting. But experts think the new activity, ongoing as of mid-June, might be occurring along the Titan Ridge and has the potential to form an ephemeral new island.

Scientists predict that the next three to five decades provide a critical window to anticipate and plan for Antarctic ice loss and its contribution to sea level rise. Research published in Nature, led by Monash University researcher Dr. Felicity McCormack from Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future (SAEF), looks at the predictability of Antarctic ice loss and what this means for sea level rise projections.

Can tiny aerosol particles make tropical convective clouds grow stronger? For decades, scientists have debated this question because aerosols can change how cloud droplets form, grow and release latent heat. One proposed pathway, known as condensational aerosol convective invigoration, requires clouds to contain high water-vapor supersaturation. Under such conditions, adding aerosol particles can create many new droplets, enhance condensation, release additional latent heat and potentially strengthen convective updrafts.

In 2011, Japan reeled from the effects of a devastating magnitude 9.0 earthquake. But unnoticed in the chaos resulting from the quake, its major aftershocks and the tsunami it caused, something strange happened. About 16 minutes after the earthquake, but before the aftershocks hit, Japan's GPS stations registered an eastward lurch—across the entire country—but unconnected to any specific quake or aftershock.

Soils that are exposed to prolonged drought often develop desiccation cracks, which impact soil properties and exacerbate moisture loss through evapotranspiration. Now, a study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign examines the evolution of soil cracking and how cracks interact with storage and movement of water in the soil. The findings can help improve hydrological models essential for water management. The research is published in the journal Soil and Tillage Research.

Researchers at the University of Tsukuba have discovered that rainwater runoff in the highly rugged sedimentary rock mountains of Japan's Southern Alps is governed by two processes: "deep infiltration" and "shallow drainage via landslides." These processes are dictated by the inclination of geological strata. Based on these findings, the researchers propose a conceptual framework, termed the "structural ground system," to explain how the bedding structure regulates rainwater runoff.

A study led by South African scientists reveals that during winter, the sea ice around Antarctica harbors a reservoir of microbes, most of which have one thing in common—the ability to produce and break down a compound known to protect organisms in extreme environments.

Rainfall history is just as critical to predicting air pollution as where the air came from, a team led by University of Michigan Engineering researchers, in collaboration with scientists at the Appalachian Mountain Club and Plymouth State University, has discovered. The findings give meteorologists a physical benchmark to improve simulations that predict changes in pollution levels over complex terrain. They also show how air pollution can be deposited in sensitive mountain environments, with downstream effects for waterways fed from the mountains.

Scientists have uncovered new evidence from one of Earth's most extreme ancient warming events, revealing how the climate may recover long after human-driven CO2 emissions cease.

Florida State University researchers have identified key differences in the root causes of long-term sea-surface temperature changes across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, a finding that could help guide future research on ocean variability. The study by Assistant Professor of meteorology Michael Diamond and FSU meteorology graduate alumnus Anthony Freveletti found that long-term temperature changes in the Pacific Ocean are driven primarily by internal ocean variability, while those in the Atlantic are largely the result of human emissions.

Methane is one of the most powerful greenhouse gases, and lakes and wetlands are among its largest natural sources. In many lakes, methane can be seen bubbling up from the bottom and escaping directly into the atmosphere.

Arctic fjords are among the most efficient natural systems for absorbing and storing carbon long term. However, as the Arctic is warming about four times faster than the global average, fjord ecosystems are changing rapidly. Against this backdrop, understanding the biological processes that regulate carbon storage is becoming increasingly important. Yet the microbial mechanisms that control whether carbon is stored in sediments or returned to the environment are still not fully understood.

A new study published in Nature shows that rock weathering increasingly counteracts river CO2 emissions as permafrost degrades. The study was carried out by a collaborative team of researchers from Umeå University in Sweden and East China Normal University.

Scientists have discovered that the southern Andes Mountains don't rise slowly and steadily as previously thought. Instead, the range builds itself in short, powerful "pulses" every few million years.