Phys.org: Earth science

Beneath the surface of the Southern Ocean, vast volumes of cold, dense water plunge off the Antarctic continental shelf, cascading down underwater cliffs to the ocean floor thousands of meters below. These hidden waterfalls are a key part of the global ocean's overturning circulation—a vast conveyor belt of currents that moves heat, carbon, and nutrients around the world, helping to regulate Earth's climate.

A research team led by Prof. Mao Miaohua at the Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has developed a method for predicting storm surges. This innovative approach enhances the quality of typhoon wind field modeling through the use of a hybrid wind field.

A study led by Prof. Zhang Nannan from the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography (XIEG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has introduced an innovative geological knowledge-constrained method for extracting entities and relationships from textual data.

Microplastics, tiny plastic particles found in everyday products from face wash to toothpaste, are an emerging threat to health and ecology, prompting a research team to identify what keeps them trapped in stream ecosystems.

Amidst the growing challenges of global climate change, gaining a deeper understanding of soil carbon sequestration mechanisms is essential for improving the carbon sink function and stability of terrestrial ecosystems.

As the climate warms, drought conditions are intensifying in many parts of the world. The effects of hydrological drought on water levels in rivers and other waterways are especially crucial to monitor because they can affect regional agriculture, energy production, economic stability, and public health.

What roils beneath Earth's surface may feel a world away, but the activity can help forge land masses that dictate ocean circulation, climate patterns, and even animal activity and evolution. In fact, scientists believe that a plume of hot rocks that burst from Earth's mantle millions of years ago could be an important part in the story of human evolution.

A trio of researchers has found evidence of the impact of the Late Antique Little Ice Age on Iceland almost 1,500 years ago. In their paper published in the journal Geology, Christopher Spencer, Thomas Gernon and Ross Mitchell describe their analysis of out-of-place rocks they found embedded in cliffs on Iceland's west coast and what they learned.

When smoke from Canadian wildfires turned New York City skies apocalyptically orange in June 2023, it delivered catastrophic air quality and an unexpected side effect: cooling the New York City region by about 3 degrees Celsius.

As atmospheric rivers pounded the U.S. West Coast last winter, scientists deployed increasingly advanced observing tools over the Pacific Ocean to improve forecasts of the powerful storms.

In 1638, an earthquake in what is now New Hampshire and Plymouth, Massachusetts, left colonists stumbling from the strong shaking and water sloshing out of the pots used by Native Americans to cook a midday meal along the St. Lawrence River, according to contemporaneous reports.

At the Seismological Society of America's Annual Meeting, researchers posed a seemingly simple question: how wide are faults?

Sediment cores drawn from four lakes in Guatemala record the distinct direction that ground shaking traveled during a 1976 magnitude 7.5 earthquake that devastated the country, according to researchers at the Seismological Society of America's Annual Meeting.

To protect against rising sea levels in a warming world, coastal cities typically follow a standard playbook with various protective infrastructure options. For example, a seawall could be designed based on the latest climate projections, with the city officials then computing its cost-benefit ratio and proceeding to build, accordingly.

Extratropical cyclones (or low-pressure systems) traveling along the Kuroshio in East Asia most frequently occur in spring, bringing heavy rain and snowfall in the region. Researchers at the University of Tsukuba unveiled the mechanism underlying the peak observed in the activity of Kuroshio cyclones during spring using four-dimensional atmospheric data spanning several decades. Their findings revealed that air over Eurasia warmed from winter to spring intensified the low-level jet stream around the East China Sea, increasing the occurrence probability of low-pressure systems during spring.

Extreme rainfall events can cause devastating floods, landslides, and widespread damage, yet predicting them remains a major challenge. While scientists often study how often and how intensely it rains, the duration of rainfall is just as critical in assessing its impact. However, research on long-lasting extreme rainfall has been limited—until now.

Identifying long-term seismic activity patterns is crucial for understanding how fault systems evolve, as well as for estimating the probability of future earthquakes. But seismic records date back only hundreds of years—1,000 years at the most—not long enough to fully understand any given fault's history.

Depleted groundwater threatens communities, agriculture, and ecosystems in California's Central Valley, which produces much of the nation's fruit, vegetables, and nuts. But the same acres where farmers have long cultivated thirsty crops might be critical for refilling aquifers, Stanford scientists have found.

When Julian Lozos visited the site of the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquakes two days after the event, he noticed something strange. Pebble- to boulder-sized rocks had clearly been moved by the earthquakes—but there were no signs of dragging or shearing on the desert ground.

The Colorado River system is the lifeblood of the southwest, delivering water to 40 million people across the United States and Mexico. Drought and overuse have left the river in crisis—the need for water far exceeds what's available.