Phys.org: Earth science

The Tibetan Plateau, together with the Hindu Kush–Karakorum–Himalaya region, has more snow and ice than any other region on Earth apart from the polar regions. As a result, this high-altitude region is particularly sensitive to climate change, making it especially important in analyzing its impacts. In recent years, researchers from the DFG Research Training Group TransTiP have been investigating changes in the region's geo-ecosystems.

High-resolution sediment analyses from the Arabian Sea reveal, for the first time, that summer and winter monsoons respond differently to global climate change. The study enhances understanding of past precipitation patterns and could help refine climate models for regions influenced by monsoons.

Research by atmospheric scientists at UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography and colleagues pinpointed an individual coal-fired power plant in Houston as the main source of particles most likely to encourage the formation of clouds around the metropolitan area.

CSIRO hydrologist Dr. Jai Vaze has lost count of how many times over the past four years he has been asked if he can flood-proof the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales.

Oceanic transform faults are strike-slip boundaries—faults that move horizontally rather than up and down and connect offset mid-ocean ridge segments. They have long been regarded as simple "conservative" plate boundaries that slide past each other without creating or destroying Earth's crust. However, mounting evidence suggests that these faults are influenced by magmatism and hydrothermal circulation, exhibiting complex three-dimensional structures.

An international expedition including University of Sydney researchers has pieced together the clearest picture yet of how the Great Barrier Reef responded to dramatic environmental change over the past 30,000 years. Multiple studies since the expedition more than 10 years ago have traced the reef's retreat, regrowth and repeated collapse from the last ice age to the dawn of the modern reef.

Venezuela has a well-documented vulnerability to earthquakes. The country sits on the boundary between the Caribbean and South American tectonic plates, resulting in routine tremors and causing historical earthquake disasters. But the experience of a "doublet," a pair of 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes 40 seconds apart, on June 24 was a rare misfortune.

The Antarctic ozone hole was discovered in 1985, when scientists observed a severe depletion in Earth's protective layer of stratospheric ozone. Industrial chemicals known as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), then widely used as refrigerants, propellants, foam-blowing agents and solvents, were at the root of the ozone depletion. After a concerted global effort to phase out the use of CFCs, ozone today is recovering, especially in the Antarctic.

New research led by the University of New England's Dr. Timothy Chapman has uncovered the trigger behind slow earthquakes, providing valuable answers for those living in disaster-prone areas. The research has been published in Geology.

In the aftermath of back-to-back earthquakes in northern Venezuela, which by Friday had killed more than 500 people and left thousands injured, experts in resilience planning have emphasized the increasing importance of disaster preparedness in earthquake-prone California.

Human-driven climate change significantly intensified the retreat of one of the most important glaciers in Antarctica during the 20th century. The Pine Island Glacier, which drains a large part of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet into the Amundsen Sea, is one of the biggest contributors to global sea level rise.

For decades, scientists have searched for a clear link between the sun's explosive storms and the weather that occurs on Earth. A breakthrough study from the University of New Hampshire reveals that in the hours and days following a solar storm, parts of North America can see sharp changes in the weather—such as declines in precipitation—and the more powerful the storm, the more dramatic the shift.

Scientists investigating a proposed way to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere using seawater have found that adding too much alkalinity to neutralize acids can trigger chemical reactions that undermine the process.

In a Penn State lab, a small cylinder of soil sits wired with sensors, slowly cooling as it mimics conditions thousands of miles away.

The Himalayas are often seen as one of Earth's great natural barriers, separating the heavily populated and industrialized regions of South Asia from the remote Tibetan Plateau. But new research, published in Geophysical Research Letters, suggests that this mountain range is not an impenetrable wall for air pollution.

Biomass burning, including the combustion of wood, charcoal and agricultural residues, is a major source of PM2.5, a fine particulate matter that degrades air quality and poses risks to human health. Much of this pollution is tracked by looking at levels of levoglucosan, a chemical that is formed when cellulose in plants is burned, from biomass combustion such as residential fuel use, cooking and open burning.

Researchers at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) led one of the first global assessments of how marine ecosystems responded during the first year when global temperatures temporarily exceeded 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

With the North American fire season underway, and a record number of acres already burned nationwide, NASA's Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, and ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite's three instruments are observing vegetation precursors to fires, along with plumes of smoke and their movement. These data will help scientists piece together clues that deepen their understanding of wildfires.

New research by Brown University geologists confirms that the Aleutian Islands, the archipelago stretching from Alaska to Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula, experienced a massive geological uplift between 5 million and 7 million years ago. The researchers conclude that the uplift—a rising of the Earth's crust that pushed the islands upward and transformed their topography—was driven by an ancient rotation of the Pacific tectonic plate, which subducts beneath the North American plate near the Alaska Peninsula and the North Pacific.

The eastern tropical Pacific Ocean is known for its large low-oxygen zones that are increasing in size, putting marine life at risk. New research shows that 15 million years ago, the opposite was true.