Phys.org: Earth science

The natural process of locking away carbon dioxide (CO2) appears to be in decline—and climate change will accelerate as a result, a University of Strathclyde study warns.

Over the last 40 years, the majority of the world's lakes have changed color, according to a new study. The research team analyzed 32 million satellite observations from over 67,000 lakes. Major changes in the lake ecosystems are thought to be the cause.

Between 15,000 and 8,000 years ago, the Earth experienced significant climatic changes, including the rapid retreat of ice sheets and rising sea levels, during the Glacial–Holocene transition. This period featured abrupt climatic events such as the Bølling–Allerød warm period and the Younger Dryas (YD) cold reversal, highlighting shifts from glacial to interglacial conditions.

Could lumpy metallic rocks in the deepest, darkest reaches of the ocean be making oxygen in the absence of sunlight?

With sea traffic set to rise in a warming Arctic, researchers are helping sailors plot a safer course through sea ice and icebergs thanks to more reliable satellite-based forecasts.

A new analysis of earthquake rupture directivity provides essential insights for seismic hazard and risk assessments in urban areas, particularly concerning the Main Marmara Fault near Istanbul in western Türkiye.

Hydrology experts at Flinders University are calling for urgent investigations into the operation of bore-fields that access fresh groundwater on Pacific islands, including Kiribati, where rising sea levels are already putting local water supplies at risk.

Geological resources such as critical metals and minerals, essential for the diffusion of technologies such as renewable energy and energy storage towards a decarbonized society, are indispensable for supporting modern life in the form of various products and services. Their demand is expected to increase in the coming years, owing to the global population as well as economic growth.

Across the street from the Flamingo Visitor Center at the foot of Florida's Everglades National Park, there was once a thriving mangrove population—part of the largest stand of mangroves in the Western Hemisphere. Now, the skeletal remains of the trees form one of the Everglades' largest ghost forests.

As the planet warms, Antarctica's ice sheet is melting and contributing to sea-level rise around the globe. Antarctica holds enough frozen water to raise global sea levels by 190 feet, so precisely predicting how it will move and melt now and in the future is vital for protecting coastal areas.

Imagine a heavy book resting on a table. If you try to gently push the book across the table with the tip of your finger, it may first appear to remain motionless—it needs a lot more force to start sliding visibly. Similarly, if you slowly start tilting the table upward, the book still appears to remain motionless, sticking to the table through friction until the table's tilt reaches some critical angle and the book suddenly slides down. This transition from apparent stillness to sudden movement under large forces is seen in earthquakes and landslides.

The most detailed map yet of the landscape beneath Antarctica's ice sheet has been assembled by a team of international scientists led from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).

A study led by Prof. Chen Hongsong from the Institute of Subtropical Agriculture of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has unveiled the mechanistic influence of soil thickness (as a representative litho-structural factor) on water movement dynamics.

The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the most prominent interannual climate variability signal, has been widely studied for its teleconnections with Antarctic sea ice variability. However, its influence on the predictability of Antarctic sea ice remains poorly understood, hindering the development of accurate sea ice prediction models.

It covers nearly three-quarters of our planet but the ocean floor is less mapped than the moon, an astonishing fact driving a global push to build the clearest-ever picture of the seabed.

Climate change may lead to more precipitation and more intense floods. A new study shows that to understand the details of this relationship, it is important to distinguish between different types of rainfall and flood events—namely, between short-term events that occur on a time scale of hours and longer-term events that last several days. In each case, climate change has a different impact.

An international study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres has provided new insights into global fossil methane emissions, using innovative multi-isotopic atmospheric measurements.

An extraordinary jump in ocean temperatures in 2023 and 2024 was at the extreme end of expectations from global warming and would have been "practically impossible" without climate change, new research said Wednesday.

As climate change continues to drive global sea level rise, many people living in coastal areas are already seeing the effects. Coastal erosion is accelerating and shifting coastlines inland, and storm surges are getting worse. But lurking beneath the surface is another major consequence that is thus far poorly understood: rising groundwater.

Critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt and copper are essential for an energy transition away from fossil fuels—but America's perception of their importance isn't fully understood, which can slow progress.