Phys.org: Earth science

Scientists on Wednesday sealed ancient chunks of glacial ice in a first-of-its-kind sanctuary in Antarctica in the hope of preserving these fast-disappearing records of Earth's past climate for centuries to come.

Lightning has captured people's fascination for millennia. It's embedded in mythology, religion and popular culture. Think of Thor in Norse mythology or Indra in Hinduism.

Devastated by widespread fires, Victoria has declared a state of disaster. More than 500 structures have reportedly been destroyed and 1,000 agricultural properties have been affected. Tragically, there has also been one fatality.

The number of wildland fires burning in the Arctic is on the rise, according to NASA researchers. Moreover, these blazes are burning larger, hotter, and longer than they did in previous decades.

New research from Adelaide University suggests the power of the ancient Tethys Ocean might have shaped Central Asia's topography during the Cretaceous period.

Europe and western North America will experience more frequent and severe crop droughts as Earth warms, even in places where yearly rainfall increases.

Dr. Rowan Martindale, a paleoecologist and geobiologist at the University of Texas at Austin, was walking through the Dadès Valley in the Central High Atlas Mountains of Morocco when she saw something that literally stopped her in her tracks.

Underground environments like soil and aquifers teem with microbial life. These tiny microbes play a big role in cycling nutrients and breaking down or transforming pollutants. However, scientists still struggle to reliably model how microbes grow and decay.

As marine-terminating glaciers melt, the resulting freshwater is released at the seafloor, which mixes with salty seawater and influences circulation patterns. As the oceans warm, it's growing increasingly important to study this process.

An international team of scientists has uncovered evidence glaciers in the Southern and Northern hemispheres were synchronous during the last ice age.

During training cruises and regattas, sailors collect valuable data for climate research at sea. A study appearing in Science Advances showed that this data can help improve estimates of the marine carbon sink.

Research from Monash University reveals the climate history behind Asia's summer monsoon—Earth's most influential climate system. In a new study published in npj Climate and Atmospheric Science, an international team of researchers led by Monash University has uncovered the pivotal role of the Tibetan Plateau's uplift in shaping Asia's iconic summer monsoon.

Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica on October 28, 2025, as a category 5 storm, bringing sustained winds of 295 kilometers (185 miles) per hour and leaving a broad path of destruction on the island. The storm displaced tens of thousands of people, damaged or destroyed more than 100,000 structures, inflicted costly damage on farmland, and left the nation's forests brown and battered.

Floods, droughts and heat waves continue to dominate headlines around the world and in Australia.

Water extremes such as droughts and floods have a huge impact on communities, ecosystems, and economies. Researchers with The University of Texas at Austin have turned their attention to tracking these extremes across Earth and have discovered what is driving them.

For decades, the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has offered a snapshot of the planet's changing climate—but University of Toronto researchers have found that some of the underlying data underrepresents a key driver of Arctic warming.

McGill engineering researchers have introduced an open-source model that makes it easier for experts and non-experts alike to evaluate greenhouse gas emissions from U.S. natural gas supply chains and yields more accurate results.

The fault beneath Istanbul doesn't behave the way scientists once thought.

The US is saber-rattling over Greenland once again. The vast island's natural resources are back on the agenda, a year after then-US national security advisor Michael Waltz announced: "This is about critical minerals. This is about natural resources."

Connecticut gets snow in the winter, but that's about it for bad weather.