Phys.org: Earth science

An international team of polar ecologists, geographers, and marine scientists has found that global warming has, over the past 20 years, melted enough glacier ice in Greenland that an additional 1,620 kilometers of that country's coastline is now exposed to the elements.

As flood threats rise, wetlands across South Carolina could play an important role in fending off high water before it soaks homes, businesses, roads and other property that people depend on.

New research into lithium mining in the "Lithium Triangle" of Chile, Argentina and Bolivia—source of more than half of the world's lithium resources—shows that the commonly accepted models used to estimate how much water is available for lithium extraction and what the environmental effects may be are off by more than an order of magnitude.

Humans have remodeled the Earth so profoundly that in 2000, atmospheric chemist Paul Crutzen and biologist Eugene Stoermer proposed that the Holocene epoch had ended and the "Anthropocene," or human epoch, had begun.

Wetlands in the Middle Yangtze River Basin (MYRB) are facing significant ecological challenges due to climate change and human activities. A recent study investigated the spatiotemporal changes in wetland ecological quality from 2001 to 2020 and projected future trends under different climate scenarios.

Mesoscale eddies, oceanic gyres about 100 kilometers in diameter, are ubiquitous features of the global ocean and play a vital role in marine ecosystems. Eddies, which form in biologically productive coastal upwelling regions, are important transporters of carbon and nutrients. These eddies trap water masses and migrate into the open ocean, where productivity is comparatively low. As such, they have a significant influence on the nutrient and carbon cycles within the ocean.

Siberia, a province located in Russia, is a significant geographical region playing a crucial role in the world's carbon cycle. With its vast forests, wetlands, and permafrost regions (permanently frozen grounds), Siberia stores a considerable amount of carbon on a global scale. But climate change is rapidly altering Siberia's landscape, shifting its vegetative distribution and accelerating the permafrost thaw.

As climate change continues to accelerate at an alarming pace, innovative and scalable solutions are more critical than ever. This week, the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) and the International Union for Microbiological Societies (IUMS) released "Microbial Solutions for Climate Change," a report developed by their scientific advisory group (SAG) of global experts.

Along with nitrogen and carbon, phosphorus is an essential element for life on Earth. It is a central component of molecules such as DNA and RNA, which serve to transmit and store genetic information, and ATP (adenosine triphosphate), which cells need to produce energy.

The monsoon rains have long remained the lifeblood of India, providing the lion's share of the water used for drinking and irrigation. The yearly arrival of the rains, which quenches the thirst of the harsh summers, is caused by the movement of cloud bands from the equator towards the north.

NASA research is revealing there's more to flowers than meets the human eye. A recent analysis of wildflowers in California shows how aircraft- and space-based instruments can use color to track seasonal flower cycles. The results suggest a potential new tool for farmers and natural-resource managers who rely on flowering plants.

Global heating over this millennium could exceed previous estimates due to carbon cycle feedback loops. This is the conclusion of a new study by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). The analysis shows that achieving the Paris Agreement's aim of limiting global temperature rise to well below 2°C is only feasible under very low emission scenarios, and if climate sensitivity is lower than current best estimates. The paper is the first to make long-term projections over the next 1,000 years while accounting for currently established carbon cycle feedbacks, including methane.

Around 14,500 years ago, toward the end of the last ice age, melting continental ice sheets drove a sudden and cataclysmic sea level rise of up to 65 feet in just 500 years or less. Despite the scale of the event, known as Meltwater Pulse 1a, scientists still aren't sure which ice sheets were responsible for shedding all that water.

A pair of researchers at the University of Waterloo in Canada, working with a colleague from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in the U.S., have created a model to visualize how water flows in Antarctica's Aurora Subglacial Basin and how it might flow in coming decades. In their paper published in the journal Nature Communications, Anna-Mireilla Hayden, Tyler Pelle and Christine Dow suggest that water flowing beneath the ice in the Antarctic today may not be reflective of how it might flow in the future.

Freshwater ecosystems require adequate oxygen levels to sustain aerobic life and maintain healthy biological communities. However, both long-term climate warming and the increasing frequency and intensity of short-term heat waves are significantly reducing surface dissolved oxygen (DO) levels in lakes worldwide, according to a study published in Science Advances.

Children are always asking "Why?" As they experience things for the first time, it's natural to want to find out more. But as children grow into adults, they often dismiss something new that challenges their experience and understanding.

As Earth continues to warm, more and more of the planet is becoming dry. A 2024 UN report found that in the last three decades, over three-fourths of all the world's land became drier than it had been in the previous 30 years.

By coring the seabed at 850 m water depth in Disko Bay off Greenland's west coast, researchers from the University of Copenhagen have obtained the first historical record of plastic pollution in Greenland. The new data suggest a link to local socio-economic development and represent a step towards developing a common method for analyzing and mapping global microplastic pollution.

Scientists from the University of Sheffield will warn policymakers that the shrinking glaciers of the Andes threaten the water supply of 90 million people on the South American continent at the first-ever World Day for Glaciers hosted by UNESCO in Paris.

Recent studies have shown that carbon stocks in terrestrial ecosystems are increasing, mitigating around 30% of the CO2 emissions linked to human activities.