Phys.org: Earth science

Cities around the world are working to limit emissions of climate-warming greenhouse gases, but there have been few ways of measuring whether those gases are actually decreasing in any given municipality. In new research, University of California, Irvine scientists have created an effective method to measure greenhouse gas emissions around cities—something that can help local governments gauge the effectiveness of their emission-curbing programs.

It matters where the rain that irrigates your food comes from.

Earthworms don't stop shaping soil processes when they die. A new study shows they can still help store carbon in the soil, even after death. "This is quite surprising," says lead author Tullia Calogiuri. "Most of our knowledge about earthworms comes from their activity while alive, such as burrowing, feeding, and producing feces. Finding that they also play a role after death is exciting."

A paper authored by University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) graduate student Zeb Leffler has been published in the Geophysical Research Letters. The student's master's research addresses a long-standing challenge in meteorology: improving the accuracy of hurricane wind estimates after landfall. Knowing the exact strength of surface winds is crucial for effective risk communication and post-storm recovery efforts.

In the early hours of Sept. 10, 2017, the turquoise waters of Biscayne Bay were mostly calm: herons and egrets worked the shallows, Miami's skyline stretching across the horizon. Yet within the quiet, unease lingered. Winds grew heavier, clouds darkened and within hours Hurricane Irma and all its fury descended on South Florida. While residents braced for flooding and prayed their homes would hold, scientists, including FIU physical oceanographer Wei Huang, worried about the bay itself.

A glacier on Antarctica's Eastern Peninsula experienced the fastest retreat recorded in modern history—in just two months, nearly 50% of the glacier disintegrated.

Groundwater replenishing beneath temperate farmland fields may come from very recent rainfall, merely one to two weeks old, whereas the water actually taken up by crops is drawn from much older sources.

Recently, Science put out an article detailing new research on the Myanmar earthquake that occurred on March 28, 2025. In one of these studies, Shengji Wei and colleagues analyze data on the event and provide insight on multiple factors that lead to these rare and devastating supershear ruptures. Their research was published this week.

Industries and individuals around the world burned record amounts of oil, gas and coal last year, releasing more greenhouse gases than ever before, a group of leading scientists said in a new report, warning that humanity is hurtling toward "climate chaos."

For the past 250 years, people have mined coal industrially in Pennsylvania, U.S.. By 1830, the city of Pittsburgh was using more than 400 tons of the fossil fuel every day. Burning all that coal has contributed to climate change. Additionally, unremediated mines—especially those that operated before Congress passed regulations in 1977—have leaked environmentally harmful mine drainage. But that might not be the end of their legacy.

An explorer and a glaciologist have embarked on a three-month mission to cross part of Antarctica on kite skis in search of ice that is 130,000 years old.

Severe fine dust pollution over Seoul and Mexico City, being composed of the same type of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), exhibits markedly different characteristics. Seoul's air tends to reflect sunlight, contributing to a cooling effect on Earth, whereas Mexico City's particles are more inclined to absorb sunlight, potentially accelerating global warming.

What drives a wealthy Danish-Norwegian general to delve into ship's logs and become almost obsessed with understanding ocean currents in the 1800s? And why has this amateur researcher remained unknown until now?

Global warming poses a significant threat to human society. Rapid and substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are necessary measures to mitigate global warming. However, substantially reduced emissions alone may not be sufficient to achieve the temperature control targets of the Paris Agreement.

A UCLA-led team of scientists has uncovered how the devastating magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar in March 2025 produced one of the longest and fastest-moving ruptures ever recorded on land.

Nitrogen is an important component of the global environment, affecting agriculture, climate, human health, and ecosystems. The role of the nitrogen cycle has become more widely appreciated, yet Earth system models (ESMs) used to predict global environmental change still do not fully incorporate it.

A study published today found that while ice shelves in West Antarctica melt year-round, those in East Antarctica experience summer melting spikes, when sea ice retreats and warm ocean water flows beneath—a process known as basal melting.

The impact of an earthquake on people and property depends not only on the earthquake's characteristics like magnitude and depth, but also on local soil conditions, which contribute to the so-called "site effect." Mapping the site effect at a high spatial resolution in an urban context is crucial for understanding which areas and buildings are at higher risk or under greater stress during subsequent seismic events.

SINKER is an innovative new instrument equipped with advanced microscopes and cameras to collect detailed data about carbon sinking in marine snow.

A large group of ANSTO environmental scientists and collaborators have produced the first groundwater stable isotopes, "isoscapes," intuitive maps with grid data, across NSW combining new and pre-existing isotope measurements.