Phys.org: Earth science

Heavy metals naturally occur in the Earth's crust, but human activities can increase their concentration in the environment, including domestic sewage and waste disposal, fumes from vehicle exhausts, fertilizer runoff, mining and fuel leaks from ships. These elements, such as arsenic, lead and mercury, can be highly toxic even in small amounts and bioaccumulate persistently, proving harmful to humans and wildlife.

On February 8, 2024, NASA launched its PACE climate satellite with the Dutch aerosol instrument SPEXone onboard. A full year of observations now yields a world map of aerosols.

An accumulation of weak to moderate earthquakes has been recorded around the Greek island of Santorini since 24 January. The seismic activity is concentrated in the area between the islands of Santorini and Amorgos, with a center around 25 km northeast of Santorini.

As pandemic lockdowns forced humans into isolation, Earth's vegetation was thriving. The year 2020 was the greenest in modern satellite records from 2001 to 2020, according to a recent study published in Remote Sensing of Environment. Consistent growth in northern and temperate regions, combined with a brief period of tropical growth, primarily led to this remarkably verdant period.

The great ice streams of the Antarctic and Greenland are like frozen rivers, carrying ice from the massive inland ice sheets to the sea—and a change in their dynamics will contribute significantly to sea-level rise.

The amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) released by microbial decomposition of soil organic carbon on a global scale is approximately five times greater than the amount of anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Thus, it is essential to clarify the impact of climate change on soil CO2 release dynamics.

Polluted runoff is still smothering the Great Barrier Reef, our first national assessment of water quality trends in Australian rivers has revealed. The problem on the reef is getting worse, not better, despite efforts to improve farming practices and billions of dollars committed by governments to water-quality improvements.

In a new paper published in Nature Geoscience, experts from Fraunhofer Heinrich-Hertz-Institut (HHI) advocate for the use of explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) methods in geoscience.

A new climate modeling study published in the journal Science Advances by researchers from the IBS Center for Climate Physics (ICCP) at Pusan National University in South Korea presents a new scenario of how climate and life on our planet would change in response to a potential future strike of a medium-sized (~500 m) asteroid.

Reducing sulfur in the air may inadvertently increase natural emissions of methane from wetlands such as peatlands and swamps, a new study has found.

Land topography is usually formed gradually over long periods of time, but sometimes a single event can dramatically change things. On New Year's Day in 2024, a devastating earthquake in the Noto Peninsula upended the region.

Africa is often synonymous with its drylands that cover two-thirds of the continent. Relief is brought through rainfall during the monsoon season, which is vital to help replenish water reserves for communities and wildlife alike. Now, the West Africa monsoon season runs from June through to September, while those in the east occur during March to May and October to December.

When people think about fiber optic cables, it's usually about how they're used for telecommunications and accessing the internet. But fiber optic cables—strands of glass or plastic that allow for the transmission of light—can be used for another purpose: imaging the ground beneath our feet.

Biochar, a charcoal-like material derived from plant biomass, has long been hailed as a promising tool for carbon dioxide removal. However, a new study by Stanford researchers highlights a critical issue: current methods for assessing biochar's carbon storage potential may significantly undervalue its true environmental benefits.

Computer models reveal how human-driven climate change will dramatically overhaul critical nutrient cycles in the ocean. In the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, University of California, Irvine researchers report evidence that marine nutrient cycles—essential for sustaining ocean ecosystems—are changing in unexpected ways as the planet continues to warm.

The Pliocene epoch, which lasted from 5.3 million to 2.6 million years ago, was a consequential time in Earth's history. The Isthmus of Panama formed, connecting North and South America, and the accumulation of ice at the poles reshaped the world's biogeography.

Observing Greenland from a helicopter, the main problem is one of comprehending scale. I have thought we were skimming low over the waves of a fjord, before noticing the tiny shadow of a seabird far below and realizing what I suspected were floating shards of ice were in fact icebergs the size of office blocks. I have thought we were hovering high in the sky over a featureless icy plane below, before bumping down gently onto ice only a few meters below us.

A University of Hawaii at Mānoa study on the freezing of water droplets suspended in air sheds light on a key process in Earth's water cycle: the transformation of supercooled water into ice.

An international group of scientists, led by King's College London, has revealed how continued global warming will lead to more parts of the planet becoming too hot for the human body over the coming decades.

A new study debunks claims that a magnitude 4.5 earthquake in Iran was a covert nuclear weapons test, as widely alleged on social media and some mainstream news outlets in October 2024, a period of heightened geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.