Phys.org: Earth science

Melting Arctic glaciers are in rapid recession, and microscopic organisms colonize the newly exposed landscapes. Dr. James Bradley, Honorary Reader in Arctic Biogeochemistry in the School of Biological and Behavioral Sciences at Queen Mary University of London, and his team, have revealed that yeasts play an important role in soil formation in the Arctic after glaciers have melted away.

Understanding the dynamics of rainfall-runoff in mountainous terrains is vital for refining predictions of sediment-related hazards, which are becoming increasingly critical under the influence of climate change. Despite extensive flood monitoring in various mountainous locales globally, comprehensive data from areas characterized by high-relief have been limited primarily to smaller watersheds, typically under 1 km2, featuring moderate river discharges. Meso-scale watersheds, spanning approximately 1–10 km2 and noted for their steep gradients and substantial sediment and water flows, present substantial data collection challenges.

Severe wildfires increase with a decrease in prescribed burns—but new research shows that in some places across the United States there may be fewer opportunities to safely burn in the future.

With record rainfall projected to continue into the future, many worry extreme flooding will follow suit. But a new CIRES-led study published today in Science of the Total Environment found an increase in precipitation alone won't necessarily increase disastrous flooding—instead, flood risk depends on how many days have passed between storms.

A team of physicists, geologists and signal theorists from the University of Granada, Spain, has developed a machine-learning-based algorithm designed to predict when Mount St. Helens will erupt.

Hydrothermal vents can be found around the world at the junctions of drifting tectonic plates. But there are many hydrothermal fields still to be discovered. During a 2022 expedition of the MARIA S. MERIAN, the first field of hydrothermal vents on the 500-kilometer-long Knipovich Ridge off the coast of Svalbard was discovered.

A study led by a UC Riverside atmospheric scientist predicts that unchecked carbon emissions will force tropical rains to shift northward in the coming decades, which would profoundly impact agriculture and economies near the Earth's equator.

Who knew Earth's upper atmosphere was like alphabet soup? NASA's Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk (GOLD) mission has revealed unexpected C- and X-shaped formations in an electrified layer of gas high above our heads called the ionosphere.

The study focuses on the so-called Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), a low-pressure trough near the equator whose position and intensity changes seasonally with the position of the sun. Trade winds from the northern and southern hemispheres meet here. This results in heavy cloud formation and heavy rainfall. To analyze how the ITCZ has changed over the past 30,000 years, researchers use the stable oxygen isotope δ18O in calcareous deposits in cave systems on land and deposits of calcareous organisms on the ocean floor.

Across the Midwest during the warmer months, studying the sky for signs of storms and tornadoes becomes one of the most popular pastimes.

Accurate estimates of atmospheric greenhouse gas levels are needed to understand and address the drivers of climate change. Of particular interest is atmospheric methane, which has increased in concentration by 160% since preindustrial times and accounted for 35% of warming from greenhouse gases from 2010 to 2019.

The Lancang Mekong River Basin (LMRB) connects six countries in Southeast Asia. To support the ecological, economic and social sustainable development of the LMRB, low carbon management services need to be implemented in each country within the basin. However, there is still a lack of a science-based, effective assessment framework to identify the relationship between carbon sequestration services (CSS) supply–demand and flow.

It's hard to imagine a cycling season without the contributions of Geo-Sports.org. After the successful editions of previous years, the sports commentaries for the Tour stages will once again be supplemented with mini-lectures.

Slush—water-soaked snow—makes up more than half of all meltwater on the Antarctic ice shelves during the height of summer, yet is poorly accounted for in regional climate models.

Colossal undersea mountains, towering up to thousands of meters high, stir up deep sea currents: impacting how our ocean stores heat and carbon.

Across Asia, the Pacific Ocean, and the Americas, El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) brings variations in winds, weather, and ocean temperature that can cause droughts, floods, crop failures, and food shortages. Recently, the world has experienced a major El Niño event in 2023–2024, dramatically impacting weather, climate, ecosystems, and economies globally.

For the first time, researchers from UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography led an international team that directly measured cold, deep water upwelling via turbulent mixing along the slope of a submarine canyon in the Atlantic Ocean.

In the Earth's subduction zones, water is transported into the deep mantle by nominally anhydrous minerals (NAMs) and water-bearing minerals in oceanic plates that react with seawater. Therefore, determination of the stability field and water content of water-bearing minerals is very important for understanding the water cycle processes in the Earth's deep interior.

Drought in the American West is becoming a persistent reality instead of a periodic emergency due to climate change, and a recent study found that an essential tool used to measure drought can't keep up.

More than 100,000 oil and gas wells across the western U.S. are in areas burned by wildfires in recent decades, a new study has found, and some 3 million people live next to wells that in the future could be in the path of fires worsened by climate change.