Phys.org: Earth science

A team led by LMU researchers shows why CO₂ fluxes from land use are so difficult to quantify—and how they can be estimated more accurately in the future.

Satellite scatterometers play a crucial role in monitoring ocean surface winds, with their accuracy directly impacting weather forecasting and climate research. However, rainfall has consistently challenged precise wind measurements, as Ku-band radar signals are much affected by rain clouds.

Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica—often called the "Doomsday Glacier"—is one of the fastest-changing ice–ocean systems on Earth, and its future remains a major uncertainty in global sea-level rise projections. One of its floating extensions, the Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf (TEIS), is partially confined and anchored by a pinning point at its northern terminus.

Ten years on from the landmark Paris Agreement, countries have taken big strides in limiting emissions and the clean energy transition is accelerating rapidly. But geopolitical headwinds are growing and the damage bill for climate pollution is rising. Climate action hangs in the balance.

A study has revealed that the substantial retreat of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) approximately 9,000 years ago was driven by a self-reinforcing feedback loop between ice melt and ocean circulation.

Over the past 50 years, geographers have embraced each new technological shift in geographic information systems (GIS)—the technology that turns location data into maps and insights about how places and people interact—first the computer boom, then the rise of the internet and data-sharing capabilities with web-based GIS, and later the emergence of smartphone data and cloud-based GIS systems.

A new study led by researchers at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory offers the clearest evidence yet that a centuries-long drought transformed life on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) beginning around the year 1550.

In recent years, as extreme weather events have occurred with increasing frequency, scientists have been searching within the chaotic atmospheric system for clues that can enhance forecasting capabilities—factors such as ENSO, sea ice, the stratospheric polar vortex, and tropical convective activity. These factors provide critical basis for weather and climate predictions across different time scales.

Arctic sea ice has declined by more than 42% since 1979, when regular satellite monitoring began. As the ice grows thinner and recedes, more water is exposed to sunlight. Ice reflects sunlight but dark water absorbs it, advancing warming and accelerating ice loss. Climate models indicate that the Arctic will see ice-free summers within the coming decades, and scientists still aren't sure what this will mean for life on Earth.

For decades, scientists have generally thought that rivers emit more carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, than they take in. But a new analysis of every river network in the contiguous United States—including underrepresented rivers in deserts and shrublands—challenges this assumption, uncovering hints that many Western waterways may be soaking up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

In Arizona's Willcox Basin, just over an hour east of Tucson, fissures are tearing through the earth, wells are running dry, and strange areas are flooding when it rains. The cause is clear. As large agricultural producers pump more and more groundwater for irrigation, the water table is falling, and the land surface itself is sinking.

A research group led by Prof. Sun Xiaobing from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, investigated the impact of multiangular polarimetry on the quantification of marine aerosol remote sensing applications.

If you know what diatoms are, it's probably because of their beauty. These single-celled algae found on the ocean floor have ornate glassy shells that shine like jewels under the microscope.

Melting of the Antarctic ice sheet due to global warming has long-term, irreversible societal impacts with important implications for people around the world. Spatial patterns of sea level change from ice sheet mass loss vary in cause, and have worldwide impacts.

Tulane University researchers, collaborating with an international team of scientists, have discovered why some parts of Earth's crust remain strong while others give way, overturning long-held assumptions about how continents break apart.

An international study presents the first global assessment of blue carbon accumulated in the living parts of seagrass plants. According to the results, their leaves, rhizomes and roots store up to 40 million tons of carbon worldwide.

For nearly a decade, Leigh Stearns and collaborators aimed a laser scanner system at Greenland's Helheim Glacier. Their long-running survey reveals that Helheim's massive calving events don't behave the way scientists once thought, reframing how ice loss contributes to sea-level rise.

Three new high-profile studies led by Dr. Yi Yao (Vrije Universiteit Brussel and ETH Zurich) show that while irrigation may be seen as a tool to dampen heat extremes, its benefits will come with adverse impacts.

By the beginning of June this year, approximately 38 million tons of Sargassum drifted towards the coasts of the Caribbean islands, the Gulf of Mexico, and northern South America, marking a negative record. Especially during the summer months, the brown algae accumulate on beaches, decomposing and emitting a foul odor. This not only repels tourists but also threatens coastal ecosystems. In the open ocean, Sargassum seaweed floating on the surface serves as nourishment and habitat for numerous marine species.

A collaborative research team has discovered that the Southern Ocean releases substantially more carbon dioxide (CO2) during the dark austral winter than previously thought. Their new study reveals that this winter outgassing has been underestimated by up to 40%.