Phys.org: Earth science

The first storm warning for the Miami area wasn't issued until only a few hours before the powerful cyclone made landfall just south of downtown, leaving residents with little time to prepare for what would become the hurricane of their nightmares.

Stretching more than 200,000 square kilometers (77,000 square miles) across southern Australia, the vast, flat plains of the Nullarbor mark one of the world's largest regions of limestone. It formed when an ancient shallow sea retreated some 14 million years ago.

Ice sheets are fundamental components of the Earth system. Antarctica and Greenland, the two ice sheets currently on Earth, don't just affect their own regions: What happens on these vast masses of land ice influences weather, climate, society and the environment around the planet.

The fight against climate change has a new, spiral-tusked ally: the narwhal.

Climate models are numerical models used to project future climate change. They simulate the climate from the present into the future by calculating changes in the atmosphere, ocean and other components of the climate system. However, simulations of the present-day climate do not perfectly reproduce observations and contain various biases. The model characteristics that cause these biases can also affect simulations of the future climate. Understanding the causes and impacts of present-day climate biases is therefore important for improving the reliability of future climate projections.

Between 2006 and 2017, North Korea conducted six underground nuclear tests at its vast testing site at Mount Mantap in North Hamgyong province. Typically, underground explosions trigger an intense burst of minor earthquakes that die down once testing stops. But geologists have detected far more seismic activity after the final detonation, and it has persisted for years.

Each summer, researchers from Hokkaido University returned to the Qaanaaq Ice Cap in northwestern Greenland to measure changes in the ice surface using aluminum poles drilled into the ice. Their 13-year record shows how the ice cap changed from 2012 to 2025.

Lord Howe Island sits about 600 kilometers (370 miles) off the New South Wales coast, a crescent of rainforest and sea cliffs that draws visitors to its beaches and birdlife. Few people realize they are standing on the worn-down remains of a volcano.

The Antarctic ozone hole in 2025 was one of the smallest in decades—a testament to the continuing success of international action to protect Earth's ozone layer, which shields us from the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

Mount Timpanogos, towering 7,000 feet (2,100 meters) above Utah Valley, is more than an iconic view and beloved hiking destination. Snowmelt from mountains like these provides about 95% of Utah's water supply. Hotter, drier conditions have led to water conservation statements from both religious and state leaders.

On June 29, 2026, the snow accumulated by Switzerland's glaciers over the course of the previous winter had melted. Known as Glacier Loss Day, this date marks the point at which further melting begins to erode the glaciers' mass until snow accumulation resumes in the fall. Matthias Huss, the network head of Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland (GLAMOS), told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that this year's Glacier Loss Day was "three months too early, compared to a healthy state."

Nitrogen is a key nutrient because it fuels the growth of plankton, which forms the basis of the marine food web. Two opposing processes determine the global nitrogen cycle: nitrogen fixation and denitrification.

The global water cycle is becoming increasingly unbalanced. Extreme droughts and floods are the result. This is shown in this year's report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on the state of global water resources, "State of Global Water Resources 2025," which was published today.

An international team of glaciologists and climate scientists, including professor Bethan Davies from Newcastle University, carried out a rapid scientific analysis and identified the role of climate change and its impacts on the high-altitude landscape.

Understanding how wind changes in response to global warming is necessary for accurately modeling climate and weather, identifying risks to infrastructure, and assessing global wind power capacity.

How deep is the deepest ocean—and how precisely can we actually measure it? A Japanese research team led by the National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR), SOKENDAI, the University of Tokyo and other Japanese institutions has mapped the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench using the EM124 multibeam echosounder aboard the research vessel Hakuho-maru. Their study is published in the journal Scientific Data.

Rivers across the globe in 2025 had one of the driest years in more than three decades, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). It shows a continuation of the long-term decline in Earth's freshwater storage and glacier retreat—trends with serious implications for people and economies in the future.

As the 2026 El Niño intensifies across the Amazon, new research highlights the urgent need to better protect the region's remaining forests from disturbances.

Mysterious trenches stretching for kilometers across southern Australia's Nullarbor Plain have been revealed as the surface footprints of deep, hidden ancient cave systems.

When policymakers and city officials plan for climate change, they rely on economic studies showing how extreme heat affects violent crime, public health, energy grids and crop yields.