Phys.org: Earth science

The climate is changing and nowhere is it changing faster than at Earth's poles. Researchers at Penn State have painted a comprehensive picture of the chemical processes taking place in the Arctic and found that there are multiple, separate interactions impacting the atmosphere.

In April 2025, the Main Marmara Fault below the Sea of Marmara in northwestern Türkiye experienced its largest earthquake in over 60 years. In a study published in Science, a team of researchers led by Prof. Dr. Patricia Martínez-Garzón from the GFZ Helmholtz Center for Geosciences in Potsdam, Germany, analyzes nearly two decades of seismic data framing the 2025 April magnitude M 6.2 earthquake.

Droughts are lasting longer in Australia, particularly in some of our most populated regions, UNSW scientists have shown.

Researchers at the Institute for Meteorology at Leipzig University have, for the first time, determined the climatic impact of contrails that form within natural cirrus clouds. Contrails account for the largest share of aviation's climate impact beyond carbon dioxide emissions.

In the wake of a wildfire, a vital micronutrient can become a toxic heavy metal—and could eventually make its way into groundwater.

If it were to melt completely, the vast West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) holds enough ice to raise the global sea levels by 4 to 5 meters (13 to 16 feet).

A team from the Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH) has collaborated with researchers from the University of Málaga (UMA) and the University of Córdoba (UCO) on an article published in the Journal of Sedimentary Research, which examines the relationship between the shape of sand grains and the distance traveled in the Arlanzón River (Burgos) and the Guadalhorce River (Málaga).

Some 4.6 billion years ago, Earth was nothing like the gentle blue planet we know today. Frequent and violent celestial impacts churned its surface and interior into a seething ocean of magma—an environment so extreme that liquid water could not exist, leaving the entire planet resembling an inferno.