Phys.org: Earth science

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.

Up to 59% of Antarctic ice shelves may be at risk of disappearing under high-emission scenarios by 2300, according to a comprehensive analysis of the effect of ocean warming published in Nature. This could result in up to 10 m of global sea-level rise. The modeling suggests that ice sheet losses would be much lower under a scenario in which warming remains below 2°C, which underscores the urgency of pursuing low emissions to safeguard Antarctic ice shelves and coastal regions.

To someday allow scientists to stay underwater conducting research for days on end, the UK-based company DEEP has designed Vanguard, a "subsea human habitat."

A team of researchers at The University of New Mexico has uncovered how a peculiar, prehistoric plant might unlock new ways to reconstruct Earth's ancient climate.

A team of U.S. scientists has discovered the oldest directly dated ice and air on the planet in the Allan Hills region of East Antarctica.

Using a mix of airborne and satellite images as well as data from ground sensors, a UCLA-led research team has reconstructed how the shape and reach of the methane plumes from the 2015–16 Aliso Canyon gas blowout evolved during the 112-day disaster.

This image captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission on 26 October 2025 shows the "brightness temperature" at the top of Hurricane Melissa as it barreled through the Caribbean Sea toward Jamaica, where it is expected to make landfall.

Irrigation canal maintenance in western Nebraska is taking a giant step forward thanks to an innovative, non-invasive method by Husker geoscientist Mohamed Khalil to check canal integrity. His sophisticated time-lapse analysis pinpoints canal seepage and structural settlement far more accurately and efficiently than traditional approaches—using a technology that can have wide-ranging uses statewide for agriculture, industry and natural resources management.

A research team from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NIGPAS), along with collaborators, has found that long-term orbital variations occurring over million-year timescales may have served as the "pacemaker" for Earth's ancient oxygenation pulses. Their findings were recently published in Geophysical Research Letters.

A study led by researchers from the University of Sydney and the University of Adelaide has revealed how the breakup of an ancient supercontinent 1.5 billion years ago transformed Earth's surface environments, paving the way for the emergence of complex life.

Since the Industrial Revolution, scientists estimate that the ocean has become around 30% more acidic from the uptake of additional anthropogenic carbon dioxide. Ocean acidification has widespread effects, including loss of coral reefs and a decline in shellfish. Current methods for measuring acidification in the ocean are point-based and labor-intensive, making large-scale, long-term monitoring challenging.