Phys.org: Earth science

Humans will need to both drastically reduce emissions and remove at least 10 gigatons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere per year to avoid the worst effects of climate change, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2023 synthesis report.

New research from Dartmouth College provides the first evidence that the Arctic's frozen soil is the dominant force shaping Earth's northernmost rivers. Permafrost, the thick layer of soil that stays frozen for two or more years at a time, is the reason that Arctic rivers are uniformly confined to smaller areas and shallower valleys than rivers to the south, according to a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

While much of the world is grappling with rising sea levels due to the melting of Greenland's ice sheet, the situation on the Greenlandic mainland is almost the opposite. The land is rising faster than the current sea level.

Governments and businesses are relying on dangerous amounts of future removal of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, instead of more rapidly reducing emissions and phasing out fossil fuels. This problem is partly due to an incomplete picture of the damaging consequences of carbon dioxide removal for people, food security and natural ecosystems, according to new research published in Science.

A study led by scientists at the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil has shown that the Rio Grande Rise (RGR), a possibly continental basaltic plateau and chain of seamounts now submerged in the South Atlantic Ocean some 1,200 km from the coast of Brazil, was once a giant tropical island, rich in minerals and covered with vegetation. Geologists have dated sediments from the formation to between 45 million and 40 million years ago.

Researchers from Chalmers University of Technology, in Sweden, have discovered a change in what scientists already knew about global warming dynamics. It had been widely accepted since the 1950s that global temperature rises were not consistent throughout the day and night, with greater nighttime warming being observed.

Mangroves and saltmarshes sequester large amounts of carbon, mitigating the greenhouse effect. New research from the University of Gothenburg shows that these environments are perhaps twice as effective as previously thought.

The unmanned underwater vehicle Ran has gone missing under a glacier in Antarctica. The vehicle, owned by the University of Gothenburg, is one of just three in the world that is used for research and has contributed to important knowledge about the so-called Doomsday Glacier.

Scientists have harnessed cutting-edge technology to produce the most comprehensive map of hedgerows across the length and breadth of England. The researchers at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) hope this innovative mapping will guide planting and restoration of these vulnerable habitats to support wildlife and mitigate climate change.

Trees are struggling to sequester heat-trapping carbon dioxide (CO2) in warmer, drier climates, meaning that they may no longer serve as a solution for offsetting humanity's carbon footprint as the planet continues to warm, according to a new study led by Penn State researchers.

Geoscientists have uncovered a missing link in the enigmatic story of how the continents developed—a revised origin story that doesn't require the start of plate tectonics or any external factor to explain their formation. Instead, the findings published last week in Nature Communications rely solely on internal geological forces that occurred within oceanic plateaus that formed during the first few hundred million years of Earth's history.

Intensive agricultural cultivation and the resulting changes in soil structure cause low humidity in the near-surface air during heat waves in really dry years. As a result, summer cold fronts roar across the Great Hungarian Plain without the usual thunderstorms and precipitation.

Record-high ocean temperatures observed in 2023 could become the norm if the world moved into a climate that is 3°C warmer than pre-industrial levels, according to a new study.

The concept of geospatial data, or information related to locations on Earth's surface, has evolved. With the advent of widely available internet and smartphones, directions that were once only available on a paper map are now updated on your phone in real time to account for traffic. That evolution was, and will continue to be, driven by how the data is gathered, according to an international research collaboration representing 18 institutions in four countries.

Days after a wildfire, a type of smoke can linger in the atmosphere that contains tiny, brown, light-absorbing particles known as tar balls. These particles are believed to have a significant impact on Earth's radiative balance, and as a result, a role in both the warming and cooling of the atmosphere.

Fueled by increasing temperatures and droughts, severe wildfires are on the rise around the world—as are the smoke-borne contaminants that harm the environment and human health. In 2023, Canada recorded its worst wildfire season ever, with fires releasing more than 290 million tons of carbon into the atmosphere. California also experienced record-setting fire seasons in 2020 and 2021.

A series of atmospheric rivers is bringing the threat of heavy downpours, flooding, mudslides and avalanches to the Pacific Northwest and California this week.

The Hadley circulation is a key atmospheric circulation pattern in the tropics. It helps even out the temperature between the equator and the poles by moving energy and momentum toward higher latitudes. However, recent studies indicate that the Hadley circulation cells have expanded toward the poles in the 21st century, increasing by several degrees each year. This expansion can have a substantial impact on the global weather and climate, resulting in adverse events like heat waves, droughts, and tropical cyclones

A team of scientists has sifted through two decades' worth of climate data collected by NASA laser pulses, and say it both paints a sobering picture and underscores the need for such missions to continue.

Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have concluded that the methane uptake in dry landscapes exceeds methane emissions from wet areas across the ice-free part of Greenland. The results of the new study contribute important knowledge to climate models. The researchers are now investigating whether the same finding applies to other polar regions.