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Researchers have used artificial intelligence to develop a new tool for assessing earthquake damage, a leap that could ultimately help first responders in making critical rescue decisions, suggests a new study. The team's AI, called the LoRA-Enhanced Ground-view Generation (LEGG) diffusion model, is trained on real aerial drone images that it uses to create highly photorealistic 3D reconstructions of the ground. Creating imagery detailed enough to fully capture a region's physical characteristics distinguishes this synthetic model, enabling it to recognize complex visual patterns and predict where structures may be damaged, even in densely populated urban areas.

Fires are a recurring phenomenon in central South America, often intensified by drought and deforestation. In 2024, wildfire activity reached its highest levels in 20 years, affecting vast areas of the Amazon rainforest and the Cerrado—the world's most biodiverse tropical savanna, stretching across one-fifth of Brazil and extending into Bolivia and Paraguay.

Author(s): Khristina T. Smaznova, Pavel K. Batrakov, Andrey A. Rodionov, and Alexander V. Oginov

A dual-wavelength high-sensitivity laser diagnostic based on a Nd:YAG laser (532 and 1064 nm, pulse duration of 7 ns) was applied to a laboratory high-voltage atmospheric discharge. The applied voltage was 1 MV, and the discharge current reached 10 kA. The discharge gap length was 0.55 m. The electr…

[Phys. Rev. E 113, 035211] Published Wed Mar 25, 2026

Author(s): S. A. Saakyan

Rapidly oscillating, inhomogeneous electromagnetic field from laser exert a force that repels charged particles from regions of high light intensity. We propose and analyze a flat-bottomed hollow-beam ponderomotive optical trap for an ultracold neutral plasma (UNP), driven by a high-power CO2 laser.…

[Phys. Rev. E 113, L033201] Published Wed Mar 25, 2026

Rising sea surface temperatures in coastal waters are driving 50 to 64 percent of the increase in large-scale humid heat waves, according to new research. The study, from researchers at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), Princeton University and Sun Yat-sen University, implies that coastal sea surface temperatures could be a potential early warning indicator for widespread humid heat extremes. The paper is published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

The technology used to predict sand and dust storm (SDS) severity has for decades systematically overestimated when and where sediment is transported across Earth's surface, a new study shows. Existing models, which draw on satellite, surface, Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and weather data, make emission predictions and underpin early warning systems to try and reduce the health and climate impacts of SDS events globally.

Cycles in the growth and decay of Antarctica's ice sheets once shaped marine biological productivity thousands of miles away in the subtropical ocean, according to new research led by scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that the obliquity cycle—a 40,000-year astronomical cycle tied to changes in Earth's axial tilt—influenced ocean productivity in subtropical latitudes about 34 million years ago, when the Antarctic ice sheet was first expanding.

Global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), which include GPS, are traditionally used for positioning, timing, and mapping information. In an open-access study published Feb. 27 in Geophysical Research Letters, MIT Haystack Observatory scientists report using existing GNSS satellites, in conjunction with 13 stations installed on the Ross Ice Shelf (RIS) in Antarctica, to measure atmospheric turbulence above the ice shelf that may have contributed to an unusual extensive surface melting in January 2016.

In 2016, Antarctic sea ice, which had previously shown record expansion, shifted rapidly toward unusually low levels. This abrupt shift left scientists scratching their heads, wondering why it had vanished so quickly despite years of growth. A new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences may finally have the answer.

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that is second only to carbon dioxide in driving up global temperatures. But it doesn't linger in the atmosphere for long thanks to molecules called hydroxyl radicals, which are known as the "atmosphere's detergent" for their ability to break down methane. As the planet warms, however, it's unclear how the air-cleaning agents will respond.

Author(s): Romain Pioch, Pascal Chabert, and Victor Désangles

The ion flux direction in a rapidly diverging magnetic field and the role of Earth's magnetic field in plasma dynamics are investigated experimentally using a low power electron cyclotron resonance thruster. The comparison between ion trajectories measured with a directional Faraday cup and the magn…

[Phys. Rev. E 113, 035209] Published Tue Mar 24, 2026

Author(s): Sean Gopalakrishnan, Xu Wang, Mihály Horányi, Vladimir Kvon, Manis Chaudhuri, Andrei Yakunin, Luuk Heijmans, Hariprasad Gangadharan, Pavel Krainov, and Dmitry Astakhov

We present experimental results of dust mobilization on a solid surface under an electron beam with grazing incidence. When the electron beam energy has a secondary electron yield greater than 1, dust particles move in the opposite direction of the electron beam. This is caused by asymmetric chargin…

[Phys. Rev. E 113, 035210] Published Tue Mar 24, 2026

A new data visualization illustrates how an experimental NASA technology can provide extra lead time to communities in the path of a tsunami. Called GUARDIAN (GNSS Upper Atmospheric Real-time Disaster Information and Alert Network), the software detects slight distortions in satellite navigation signals to spot hazards on the move.

The field of solar geoengineering revolves around the idea of cooling the globe via the injection of aerosols to reflect sunlight or to thin clouds. One such strategy, stratospheric aerosol injection (SAI), aims to mimic the effects of a volcanic eruption. Volcanoes spew sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere, which then reflects light back into space, cooling Earth for potentially a year or longer, as documented in previous eruptions.

This winter was one of the warmest on record across the West. As a result, many snowy, alpine areas have seen bouts of winter rainfall where there would ordinarily only be snow. These unusual weather patterns have contributed to an abysmal ski season, but they can also set the stage for dangerous avalanches.

Publication date: Available online 17 March 2026

Source: Advances in Space Research

Author(s): Carlo Scotto, Dario Sabbagh, Alessandro Ippolito, Loredana Perrone

Publication date: Available online 16 March 2026

Source: Advances in Space Research

Author(s): Yezhen Sun, Jialin Ren, Jun Chen, Guozhu Liang, Zhigang Wang, Liangen Xia, Xiaodong Wang

Publication date: Available online 16 March 2026

Source: Advances in Space Research

Author(s): Mefe Moses, Trisani Biswas, Haris Haralambous, Krishnendu Sekhar Paul

Green clay tennis courts are able to absorb massive amounts of carbon dioxide via enhanced rock weathering, according to a new study in Applied Geochemistry. Enhanced rock weathering—the process of using silicate rocks like basalt to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through the rocks' chemical reaction with rainfall—has emerged in recent years as a promising method of reducing carbon emissions. Green clay tennis courts in the US are made of metabasalt, a type of basalt with similar properties allowing for carbon sequestration.

Arctic rivers wind through remote tundra and boreal forests, freezing solid in winter and surging each spring with snowmelt, eventually emptying into the ocean. Runoff—water that does not soak into the ground but instead flows over the land surface—further increases the volume of freshwater entering the sea.