Phys.org: Earth science

The soil in high-elevation, cooler, drier tropical forests in the Colombian Andes stores more carbon from fires than lower, warmer regions, new research shows.

Penn State Assistant Professor of Anthropology Jacob Holland-Lulewicz is among a group of archaeologists who have spent years conducting research on the barrier islands off the coast of Georgia. The islands have changed shape and even numbers over the centuries, with Hurricane Irma splitting one into two distinct masses in 2018 and potential changes on the horizon now that the current hurricane season is underway.

Northwestern University and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) scientists have developed a new process-based framework that provides a more accurate and dynamic approach to landslide prediction over large areas.

Deep below the surface of the ocean, unseen waves roil and churn the water. These internal waves, traveling between water layers of different temperatures and densities, draw cold, nutrient-rich water up from the depths and play a major role in oceanic circulation. Understanding and modeling their behavior is critical for developing more accurate simulations of an increasingly unpredictable climate.

The Pacific Northwest boasts an extensive network of more than 600 seismic monitoring stations that help researchers track tectonic and volcanic phenomena, including earthquakes.

Driven by high temperatures in the Gulf, Hurricane Ian rapidly intensified from a Category 3 to Category 5 before making landfall in Southwest Florida on September 28, 2022. The deadly storm caught many by surprise and became the costliest hurricane in state history.

For decades, medium-range weather forecasting—predicting conditions 1 to 5 days ahead—has relied heavily on traditional numerical models. However, this approach often struggles when applied to specific regions with limited historical data.

When an earthquake causes a landslide, debris flow, or erosion, it can change the makeup of nearby lakes by introducing larger sediment particles, causing faster sediment buildup, and affecting carbon sequestration. The sediments that build up on lake bottoms act as a historical archive, recording the lake's biological, physical, and chemical changes and how they affect microbes such as diatoms (microscopic glass-like algae). Yet little is known about how sudden, earthquake-driven disturbances may affect lake ecosystems.

Ocean tides can trigger city-sized icebergs to break off from Antarctic ice shelves, scientists said on Thursday, offering a potential way to predict these dramatic events in the future.

Researchers have developed a novel method to detect and study how ice forms in mixed-phase clouds, significantly boosting scientists' ability to forecast weather and model climate change.

The seismic signature of a fireball meteoroid event can be used to tell whether the fireball fragmented or remained intact as it fell through the atmosphere, according to new research published in Seismological Research Letters.

Megathrust earthquakes are large earthquakes that occur on faults found along the boundaries between tectonic plates. The Nankai Trough is a megathrust earthquake zone lying off the southwestern coast of Japan, and experts estimate that this zone could generate a potentially devastating (magnitude 8 or 9) large earthquake sometime in the next 30 years. In addition to the direct catastrophic impact of such powerful ground shaking, a seismic event of this magnitude could trigger cascading hazards such as destructive tsunamis.

As temperatures, biodiversity losses, and sea levels rise globally, scientists are concerned about the likelihood of abrupt climatic shifts occurring, particularly within sensitive subsystems of the climate system such as the Amazon rainforest, Antarctic sea ice, and the Tibetan Plateau. Abrupt shifts can manifest as, for example, large and sudden changes in the rate of precipitation in a monsoon system, ice melt in Antarctica, or permafrost thaw in the Northern Hemisphere.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge are using AI to speed up landslide detection following major earthquakes and extreme rainfall events—buying valuable time to coordinate relief efforts and reduce humanitarian impacts.

The magnetosphere, formed by Earth's magnetic field, acts as a protective shield that deflects solar wind—the flow of charged particles constantly streaming from the sun toward our planet. This magnetic barrier protects our atmosphere and the technology we increasingly depend on in near-Earth space, such as communication satellites.

Lightning has a greater impact on forests than previously thought. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have developed new model calculations that, for the first time, estimate the global influence of lightning on forest ecosystems.

Loretta Mickley first started thinking about smoke in the summer of 2002.

Located about 3 miles offshore and 5 miles north of the Naval Postgraduate School is a first-of-its-kind ocean-sensing buoy. With 5G technologies and solar panels built in, the buoy has the capabilities to collect oceanographic and meteorological data 24 hours a day, seven days a week for the next three years.

A new study published in Science Advances has revealed the first detailed images of a newly developing subduction zone off the coast of British Columbia's Haida Gwaii archipelago.

Submarine canyons are among the most spectacular and fascinating geological formations to be found on our ocean floors, but at an international level, scientists have yet to uncover many of their secrets, especially those located in remote regions of Earth like the North and South Poles.