Phys.org: Earth science

A new measure that compares earthquake-related fatalities to a country's population size concludes that Ecuador, Lebanon, Haiti, Turkmenistan, Iran and Portugal have experienced the greatest impact from fatalities in the past five centuries.

Trace metals are nutrient elements, like zinc, that animals and plants need in small amounts to function properly. Animals generally get trace metals in their diets or through environmental exposures, while plants take their trace minerals up from soil. If we get too little, we may experience a deficiency, but the opposite can also be true: Too much of a trace metal can be toxic.

Wetlands are Earth's largest natural source of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that is about 30 times more powerful than carbon dioxide at warming the atmosphere. A research team from the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) analyzed wetland methane emissions data across the entire Boreal-Arctic region and found that these emissions have increased by approximately 9% since 2002.

Oxygen is fundamental to sustaining life on Earth. The ocean gets its oxygen from its uppermost layers in contact with the atmosphere. As our planet continues to warm, the ocean is gradually losing its capacity to absorb oxygen, with severe consequences on marine ecosystems and human activities that depend on them. While these trends will likely continue in the future, it remains unclear how ocean oxygen will redistribute across the ocean interior, where ocean currents and biological degradation of biomass dominate over atmospheric diffusion.

A new study, resorting to computational models, predicts that a subduction zone currently below the Gibraltar Strait will propagate further inside the Atlantic and contribute to forming an Atlantic subduction system—an Atlantic ring of fire. This will happen 'soon' in geological terms—in approximately 20 million years.

Africa's forested areas—an estimated 14 % of the global forest area—are continuing to decline at an increasing rate—mostly because of human activities to convert forest land for economic purposes. As natural forests are important CO2 and biodiversity reservoirs, this development has a significant impact on climate change and affects the integrity of nature.

A new Tulane University study published in Nature Communications offers a glimpse into the possible impact of climate change on coastal wetlands 50 years or longer into the future.

A new study led by Dr. Assaf Hochman from the Institute of Earth Sciences at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem sheds light on the complex dynamics of sub-seasonal precipitation anomalies in the Middle East, revealing significant correlations with key climate indices. The research offers valuable insights into the predictability of rainfall patterns crucial for both society and the environment.

The Amazon rainforest could approach a tipping point, which could lead to a large-scale collapse with serious implications for the global climate system. A new Nature study by an international research team including scientists from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact research (PIK) reveals that up to 47% of the Amazonian forest is threatened and identifies climatic and land-use thresholds that should not be breached to keep the Amazon resilient.

Widespread 20th-century reforestation in the eastern United States helped counter rising temperatures due to climate change, according to new research. The authors highlight the potential of forests as regional climate adaptation tools, which are needed along with a decrease in carbon emissions.

Ribbons of water vapor called atmospheric rivers wind through the troposphere, moving the planet's moisture from near the equator toward the poles. These aerial waterways are responsible for about 20%–30% of the annual rain and snow in parts of Europe and the United States and more than 40% in East Asia during that area's warm season.

Studying a rock is like reading a book. The rock has a story to tell, says Frieder Klein, an associate scientist in the Marine Chemistry & Geochemistry Department at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).

A new study published in Science resolves a long-standing scientific debate, and it stands to completely change the way we think about Earth's climate evolution.

An estimated 11,000 sq miles or 28,707 sq kilometers of Greenland's ice sheet and glaciers have melted over the last three decades, according to a major analysis of historic satellite records.

Marine heat waves will become a regular occurrence in the Arctic in the near future and are a product of higher anthropogenic greenhouse-gas emissions, according to a study just released by Dr. Armineh Barkhordarian from Universität Hamburg's Cluster of Excellence for climate research CLICCS.

A team led by the Doñana Biological Station and the Geological and Mining Institute of the Spanish National Research Council has reviewed more than 70 studies related to groundwater and the conservation status of one of Europe's most iconic wetlands, Doñana, in southern Spain.

Nebraska's rivers can be thought of as places for quiet contemplation, familiar local landmarks or as precious natural resources to be protected.

Vehicles in ditches and medians. Nights without power and heat. Injuries suffered. Lives lost. For those in the Midwest, where the frying pan of summer gives way to the snow globe of winter, the scenes of a blizzard are familiar for their frequency. Of the nearly 13,000 U.S. blizzards documented between 1996 and 2020, more than 10,000 struck the northern Plains and Upper Midwest.

Climate changes usually happen over long periods of time, but during the last glacial period, extreme fluctuations in temperature occurred within just a few years. Researchers at the University of Basel have now been able to prove the phenomenon also occurred during the penultimate glacial period.

About 10% of human-made mercury emissions into the atmosphere each year are the result of global deforestation, according to a new MIT study.