Phys.org: Earth science

An international study led by the Institute of Natural Resources and Agrobiology of Seville (IRNAS-CSIC), of the Spanish National Research Council (CISC), has shown that as the number of global change factors increases, terrestrial ecosystems become more sensitive to the impacts of global change.

Scientists for several years have studied the theoretical effectiveness of injecting sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere to reflect heat from the sun and offset Earth's warming temperatures. But they also want to ensure that the solar geoengineering approaches being studied are evaluated for their technical feasibility, as well as their cooling potential and possible ecological and societal side effects.

The U.S. has slashed smog-causing pollutants like airborne sulfur dioxide in the past 20 years, but the cuts have unintentionally increased ground and water pollution in some local areas, according to research from Princeton and Colorado State University.

Anyone who's spent their winter months around the Great Lakes has probably had the uncanny experience of living through three seasons in a single weekend. According to new research from the University of Michigan, these wild weather swings are poised to become even more common in the future.

Major water reservoirs across the continental United States are experiencing longer, more severe, and more variable periods of low storage than several decades ago, a new study reports. The problems are most severe in the western and central United States, but reservoirs in the eastern and southeastern United States are not immune, the study finds. Overall, reservoirs are less reliable and more vulnerable to climate change than they used to be.

Mercury (Hg), a highly toxic contaminant that persists globally, can be stored in the cryosphere and released into aquatic ecosystems as glaciers melt, posing potential risks to human health.

Researchers around the world are advancing and refining climate models to predict the effects of climate change. These models use information about our planet's chemical, physical, and biological processes to create simulations of potential climate pathways.

New research reveals a concerning shift in Antarctic Treaty decision-making in the face of rising environmental and governance issues in the region.

Climate change is particularly intense in the Arctic. To assess its consequences and determine what role this region plays in global warming, two teams of scientists from EPFL have visited the area. One to gain a better understanding of the region's air composition, the other to quantify the greenhouse gases sequestered in Greenland fjords sourced by glacial water.

In 2005, I was navigating winding roads through the Drakensberg Mountains, in Lesotho, Southern Africa. Towering cliff-like features known as escarpments interrupt the landscape, rising up by a kilometer or more. Taken aback by the dramatic scenery, I was struck by a question: how on Earth did it form?

New research from Northwestern University has systematically proven that a mild zap of electricity can strengthen a marine coastline for generations—greatly reducing the threat of erosion in the face of climate change and rising sea levels.

Once upon a time, the Teton Range, a 40-mile-long mountain range in the northern Rocky Mountains, may have extended much longer than it does now.

Researchers at Stanford and Colorado State University have developed a rapid, low-cost approach for studying how individual extreme weather events have been affected by global warming. Their method, detailed on Aug. 21 in Science Advances, uses machine learning to determine how much global warming has contributed to heat waves in the U.S. and elsewhere in recent years.

In recent years, the news about Earth's climate—from raging wildfires and stronger hurricanes, to devastating floods and searing heat waves—has provided little good news.

New research by the University of Liverpool has revealed how an underwater avalanche grew more than 100 times in size, causing a huge trail of destruction as it traveled 2,000km across the Atlantic Ocean seafloor off the North West coast of Africa.

Time is of the essence in tropical cyclone prediction: The more warning time a community has, the better prepared its members will be when a storm makes landfall. Currently, the path and nature of tropical cyclones can be predicted up to only five days in advance.

Interactions between neighboring tectonic plates can push parts of Earth's surface up or down to form notable features, such as the Andes and the Himalayas. The forces that sculpt the Earth's surface far from plate edges are less well understood. For instance, multiple hypotheses compete to explain the uplift of the Colorado Plateau in the interior of the North American plate.

Excess carbon dioxide emitted by human activities—such as fossil fuel burning, land-use changes, and deforestation—is known as anthropogenic carbon dioxide. Approximately 30% of this anthropogenic carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is absorbed by the world's oceans. While this absorption helps mitigate global warming, it also has adverse effects on marine life, including fish and plants.

The hottest warm period in the past million years is believed to have occurred about 400,000 years ago. During this time, the Northern Hemisphere had less ice than today, and sea levels were about 10 meters higher. Surprisingly, solar radiation, a key driver of warm periods, was weak during this time, and greenhouse gas levels were lower than today. This puzzling period, known as the MIS 11c paradox, has long baffled scientists.

Pioneering research forecasts that worldwide flooding is likely to be significantly worse in future decades if countries fail to meet official pledges to cut carbon emissions.