Phys.org: Earth science

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.

Climate change could push UK rivers to dangerous extremes and bring more frequent rapid swings between wet and dry conditions—a phenomenon known as hydroclimatic whiplash—according to research led by the University of East Anglia (UEA). Researchers analyzed almost 700 river catchments across the UK to project how river flows may change at 2° C and 4° C of global warming. The results reveal stark regional contrasts and growing challenges for communities and water managers trying to plan for flood and drought risk, particularly in areas that will increasingly experience both.

Marine heat waves (MHWs) are events characterized by prolonged warm coastal and ocean conditions with wide-ranging impacts on ecosystem health and associated industries. While research on MHWs has historically relied on surface-water data from satellite observations and buoy records, new research from the Batten School of Coastal & Marine Sciences & VIMS highlights the need to—quite literally—go deeper.

Hot and dry conditions have become synonymous with the risk of extreme wildfires. But a new paper argues that such conditions are not, by themselves, sufficient for blazes, and most warm years do not result in the burning of exceptionally large areas.

An international team of researchers has found plants in the tropics absorb much less carbon dioxide than previous modeling had suggested, which has implications for ecosystem management.

Snowfall deep inside East Antarctica has increased in recent decades, and distant ocean temperature changes may be partly responsible. Using long-term climate data and observations from Dome Fuji station, researchers found that the increase in snowfall is strongly linked to atmospheric blocking patterns that carry moist air into inland Antarctica. These patterns are, in turn, influenced by sea surface temperature changes in the subtropical South Atlantic Ocean—highlighting important climate connections across vast distances.

A chain of remote islands and underwater volcanoes between Alaska and Kamchatka has revealed a much older chapter in Earth's tectonic history than previously known. Along the Aleutian Arc, the Pacific Plate dives beneath the North American Plate, creating one of the most active and important plate boundaries on Earth. An international research team has now shown that this subduction zone began at least 56 million years ago, significantly earlier than previous models had assumed. The findings, published in Nature Communications, shed new light on a major reorganization of plate motions and may also help better understand ancient global climate change.

Most of the earthquakes we hear about are due to tectonic plates colliding or sliding past each other near plate boundaries. Yet researchers have detected some enigmatic earthquakes happening inside the more stable interiors of plates. Intermediate-depth earthquakes (IDEs), which occur around 70–300 kilometers (43–186 miles) below the surface, are especially puzzling because rocks at those depths are hot enough to flow more fluidly.

Communities around the world have adapted to live on the year-round frozen soil of frigid environments, such as in the Arctic. However, rising temperatures have introduced a new challenge: What happens when the ground under houses and roads begins to melt?

In a strong El Niño winter, normally dry regions can suddenly drown in rain. NASA notes that "typically dry regions can experience nearly two times as much rain during a strong El Niño." Indeed, the blockbuster El Niños of 1982–83 and 1997–98 unleashed record-breaking California storms and unusually mild Northeast winters. These far-reaching effects—atmospheric "teleconnections" linking the tropics to North America—arise because Pacific warming steers the jet stream south and east.

While Reno families were celebrating the 1997 New Year, the Truckee River was surging into the city's downtown streets. A rainstorm was falling on the Sierra Nevada's deep snowpack, melting it rapidly and creating a hazardous situation for downstream communities.

Traditional global climate models were like early digital cameras—they had only about 10,000 pixels to cover the entire planet. At that low resolution, big storm systems looked like blurry blobs. You couldn't see their true shape, how long they lasted or where they dumped the heaviest rain.

The Ontong Java Plateau in the western Pacific Ocean is the largest oceanic plateau on Earth, and its formation mechanism has not been well understood.

Over 40,000 seamounts—undersea mountains that don't breach the ocean's surface—are scattered across the ocean floor. Some form linear chains, while others occur as dispersed, isolated features that are not part of well-defined volcanic chains.