Phys.org: Earth science

Understanding the dynamics of how water moves is deceptively simple in concept and endlessly complex in practice. Real-world marine environments are anything but controlled: weather, seasons, and geography change constantly. Yet understanding water movement is a critical aspect in areas of study like marine biology, coastal and environmental science, and even policy around how we recover from natural disasters.

Sitting at the northwestern edge of North America, Alaska stretches across a vast Arctic land of wilderness, culture, and wealth beneath the surface. Among its resources is the Donlin Gold deposit, located in southwestern Alaska's Kuskokwim River basin. As one of the world's largest undeveloped gold mines, it holds an estimated 39 million ounces worth more than $170 billion at today's prices.

As climate change intensifies drought conditions across the Southwest, researchers at The University of New Mexico are examining how agricultural water is used in one of New Mexico's most critical river systems.

A new international study published in Nature Geoscience reveals that dark brown carbon from wildfires exerts a powerful warming effect on the global climate—potentially matching or even exceeding that of black carbon in the visible spectrum.

Reducing methane emissions will slow climate change but could also slow the recovery of the stratospheric ozone layer, new research from the University of Reading shows.

Using old satellite radar techniques, scientists have developed a new way of measuring the true extent of an understudied and crucial region of the Antarctic sea-ice system for the first time. The Marginal Ice Zone (MIZ) around Antarctica is the "outer edge" of the sea ice, forming a nearly 200-kilometer-wide ring of ice floes affected by waves from the extremely rough Southern Ocean.

A new study published in the journal Nature Geoscience by researchers at the IBS Center for Climate Physics (ICCP) at Pusan National University in South Korea shows that the Antarctic ice sheet became more sensitive to climate forcing following a major shift in Earth's ice age cycles about one million years ago, providing new insight into how ice sheets respond to long-term climate change.

Hailstorms can be incredibly dangerous, posing risks to life and property. Then there's the economic damage to cars, crops, and infrastructure caused by large balls of ice falling at high speed from the sky. And the problems could worsen as our planet heats up.

From Australia's remote deserts to the surface of Mars, geological mapping underpins how we understand landscapes, natural resources, and the processes that shape our planet and others beyond it.

Nearly 50 years ago, a puzzling earthquake beneath northern Utah jolted scientists' understanding of how Earth works. Now, research from the University of Utah confirms that the mysterious event was real, and part of a rare class of earthquakes occurring far deeper beneath the continental crust than scientists once believed possible.

A decade ago, Bradley Markle, an assistant professor at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado Boulder, noticed an odd pattern while sifting through temperature records from the end of the last ice age in Antarctica. The records seemed to defy prevailing theories of how temperatures vary across the Antarctic continent.

An international team of scientists has demonstrated how powerful thunderstorm complexes over the U.S. Corn Belt are fueled by moisture rising from the region's fertile fields or just beneath them. The findings can lead to better and longer-term weather forecasts for this critical farming area as well as giving researchers new insights into improving computer models needed to better understand atmospheric processes.

Waves of higher, warmer water move eastward across the Pacific Ocean a few months before an El Niño emerges. Several have shown up in 2026 satellite data.

Earth was mostly devoid of oxygen for much of its 4.5 billion year lifetime. That is, until certain processes started to allow for the eventual buildup of oxygen up to the levels we have now (around 21% of the atmosphere). While scientists have found evidence of the approximate timescales of rises in oxygen over time and are aware of some of the mechanisms behind it, the main driver behind Earth's long-term oxygenation is still unclear.

The volcano on Indonesia's Halmahera Island routinely ejects ash, volcanic gases, and volcanic bombs. In May 2026, the Global Volcanism Program reported nine actively erupting volcanoes in Indonesia—more than any other country at the time. Such activity is typical for the Southeast Asian archipelago, where eruptions have occurred at 55 volcanoes since the 1960s—the highest total for any country. Japan ranks second with eruptions at 40 volcanoes over that time period, followed by the United States with 39, according to Global Volcanism Program data.

From the Kleines Nesthorn to Pizzo Cengalo, the Alps appear to be crumbling. Permafrost researcher Robert Kenner has penned a summary explaining the role that thawing permafrost and melting glaciers play—or don't play—in this process.

Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf and the West Antarctic Ice Sheet may have been far smaller during one of Earth's most recent warm periods, according to a new study that traced the origin of ancient dust preserved in Antarctic ice. Previous modeling studies suggest that the melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet could raise global sea levels by between three and five meters.

As meltwater drains through and beneath a glacier, it can alter how the ice flows and whether it breaks apart. Meltwater can also cause feedback that leads to more ice loss. Understanding when and how glacial meltwater drains is therefore critical to predicting how fast glaciers will lose ice and how that loss will affect sea level.

The first small satellite of the CloudCT network has been integrated, tested, and prepared for launch from California in June 2026. This precursor mission will be followed, if successful, by the launch of 10 additional CloudCT satellites in 2027, helping to fill gaps in our understanding of clouds and their role in climate.

Most people think of ice as frozen and lifeless, but research at Umeå University shows the opposite. A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences demonstrates that ice actively speeds up the breakdown of iron minerals and may release more iron than current environmental models account for. This is crucial for predicting how nutrient cycles, carbon storage, and water quality will change in polar and mountain regions as the planet warms.