Phys.org: Earth science

As we focused our microscope on the soil sample for the first time, bits of organic material came into view: a tiny poppy seed, the compound eye of an insect, broken willow twigs and spikemoss spores. Dark-colored spheres produced by soil fungi dominated our view.

There's an important dividing line in the history of recent Texas earthquakes—those occurring before and after 2017, when the establishment of the Texas Seismological Network (TexNet) introduced the ability to monitor seismic events to much lower magnitude.

Clouds have for decades been a bugbear for remote sensing of land surface temperature—one of the most important earth system metrics, used in everything from tracking climate change to predicting wildfires. A new approach incorporating machine learning appears to have solved this challenge

Groundwater is a vital resource, sustaining plants and ecosystems, ensuring agricultural production and serving as a core component of drinking water supplies. However, climate change and anthropogenic pressures can threaten groundwater availability, especially in southwestern Europe.

High in the arid White Mountains of eastern California stand the gnarled, twisted trunks of ancient bristlecone pines. These slow-growing trees quietly weather the ages; at more than 4,000 years old, some are more ancient than the Great Pyramid of Giza.

Climate change threatens natural ecosystems and socioeconomic systems, with carbon dioxide viewed as the main driving force. To promote ecological civilization construction and cope with global climate change, China first proposed the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals ("dual carbon" goals hereafter) in 2020 and addressed to integrate it into the overall plan of ecological civilization construction in 2021.

A team of scientists and engineers at NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has collaborated to see if a small piloted drone, equipped with a specialized payload, could help create detailed maps of how fast water is flowing. Rivers supply fresh water to our communities and farms, provide homes for a variety of creatures, transport people and goods, and generate electricity.

The story of Greenland keeps getting greener—and scarier. A new study provides the first direct evidence that the center—not just the edges—of Greenland's ice sheet melted away in the recent geological past and the now-ice-covered island was then home to a green, tundra landscape.

The formation of Earth's continents billions of years ago set the stage for life to thrive. But scientists disagree over how those land masses formed and if it was through geological processes we still see today.

In line with longstanding initiatives to expand its green spaces, New York City is planting tens of thousands of trees each year. They provide shade, lower surface temperatures by releasing moisture, absorb a surprising amount of airborne carbon, scrub out soot and other floating pollutants, and provide wildlife habitat along with just plain beauty. What could go wrong?

The aftermath of an earthquake is marked by intricate postseismic adjustments, particularly the elusive early afterslip. Daily seismic monitoring has struggled to capture the rapid and complex ground movements occurring in the critical hours post-quake.

Atmospheric nitrogen dioxide is a harmful pollutant with significant impacts on air quality, climate and the biosphere. Although satellites have mapped nitrogen dioxide concentrations since the 1990s, their resolution was generally too coarse to pinpoint individual sources like power plants.

Earth systems could be "tipped" into unstable states if warming overshoots the 1.5°C target, but impacts could be minimized if warming is swiftly reversed.

Aerosol particles are tiny. Swirling suspended in the air around us, most are smaller than the smallest bug, thinner than the thinnest hair on your head, gossamer specks practically invisible to the naked eye. Newly formed ones are nano-sized. Yet their influence is gargantuan.

A McGill-led study suggests that Earth's natural forces could substantially reduce Antarctica's impact on rising sea levels, but only if carbon emissions are swiftly reduced in the coming decades. By the same token, if emissions continue on the current trajectory, Antarctic ice loss could lead to more future sea level rise than previously thought.

A study published in Science Advances reveals that uncertainties are currently too large to accurately predict exact tipping times for critical Earth system components like the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), polar ice sheets, or tropical rainforests.

Man-made emissions of nitrous oxide (N₂O) are rapidly increasing globally and are predicted to pose a growing threat to Earth's ozone layer. In the 1970s, it was discovered that N₂O in the upper atmosphere can trigger ozone-depleting reactions through its interaction with low-energy electrons. However, the full impact of this process on the ozone layer remains poorly understood.

NOAA-supported scientists have announced that this year's Gulf of Mexico "dead zone"—an area of low to no oxygen that can kill fish and marine life—is approximately 6,705 square miles, the 12th largest zone on record in 38 years of measurement. This figure equates to more than 4 million acres of habitat potentially unavailable to fish and bottom species, an area roughly the size of New Jersey.

Joint research led by Professor An Zhisheng from the Institute of Earth Environment of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has revealed the pivotal role of the growth of the Antarctic ice sheet and associated Southern Hemisphere sea ice expansion in triggering the mid-Pleistocene climate transition (MPT). It has also shown how asymmetric polar ice sheet evolution affects global climate.

Rocks recently exposed to the sky after being covered with prehistoric ice show that tropical glaciers have shrunk to their smallest size in more than 11,700 years, revealing the tropics have already warmed past limits last seen earlier in the Holocene age, researchers from Boston College report in the journal Science.