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Author(s): Guo-Dong Wang, Ke-Wei Tao, Rui Cheng, Wang-Wen Xu, Jun-Yu Dong, Lin-Hua Zhen, Zhao Wang, Ze-Xian Zhou, Lu-Lin Shi, Yu-Peng Chen, Jin-Fu Zhang, Yan-Hong Chen, Xue-Jian Jin, Xiao-Xia Wu, Yu Lei, Yu-Yu Wang, Zhang-Hu Hu, Yan-Shi Zhang, and Jie Yang

In the field of inertial confinement fusion and ion beam-driven high-energy-density physics, the energy deposition along the beam trajectory is a critical physical parameter. Beyond particle collisions, the collective effects of plasma can significantly affect ion transport. The development of two-s…

[Phys. Rev. E 112, 045219] Published Fri Oct 31, 2025

An early morning landslide, triggered by heavy rainfall, killed at least 22 people in rural PNG.

At about 2 am on 31 October 2025, a landslide struck a rural community at Kukas in Enga Province, Papua New Guinea. News reports suggest that it was triggered by heavy rainfall and that 22 bodies have been recovered to date, but that the final toll may be as high as 30 people.

Loyal readers will know that tracking down landslides in rural PNG is a major challenge – the quality of baseline mapping of villages is quite poor. However, an ABC News report indicates that the landslide occurred in the vicinity of Pausa, so I think the most likely location is in the region of [-5.67878, 143.91848]:-

The likely location of the 25 October 2025 landslide at Kukas in PNG. Image from Google Maps.

We will need to wait for Planet imagery to confirm, noting of course that PNG is notoriously cloudy.

There is a post on Facebook by a local from Kukas, Ben Mcpitu, that contains a short video of the site. Please be cautious, the post includes an picture of some of the victims. The post is here. It also includes a video of the aftermath of the landslide, from which this is a still:-

The aftermath of the 25 October 2025 landslide at Kukas in PNG. Still from a video posted to Facebook by Ben Mcpitu.

Assuming that this is indeed the site, this appears to have been a failure high on the slope in a natural gully. Note that the regolith has been stripped backin the mid-slope area, possibly to bedrock. The news reports indicate that at least one house, and possibly as many as three houses, were directly in the path of the landslide. Given the timing in the early hours of the morning, there would have been little chance to escape. However, the ABC report also describes the capricious nature of risk:

Mr Tumu [the deputy principal at a nearby school] said the dead were mostly visitors from a neighbouring village about 5 kilometres away that was undergoing local government elections.

“It came in force, and then it just covered the old house that they stayed [in] last night,” he said.

Return to The Landslide Blog homepage Text © 2023. The authors. CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
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AbstractTomography based on full waveforms is an important tool for characterising the subsurface. However, systemic artefacts in the recorded data must be removed prior to the imaging process to fully utilise the information contained in the data. Especially for near-surface surveys, the coupling between sources/receivers and the medium can introduce significant distortions in the recorded data. We present two novel time-domain FWI approaches that account for the interaction between sources, receivers, and the subsurface. The first approach does not impose any restrictions on the shape of the source wavelet, except that it must be compact in time (TC inversion) such that the computation of synthetic seismograms is feasible. In the second approach, we assume that the source wavelet can be approximated with a Ricker wavelet, and we invert only for the three parameters describing a Ricker wavelet (SP inversion). Both algorithms have been tested with synthetic crosshole data. The SP approach is slightly superior to the TC inversion when the true wavelet is indeed a Ricker wavelet. However, the TC inversion outperforms the SP approach when the true source wavelet is not well approximated with a Ricker wavelet. This is demonstrated with a field data set acquired in boreholes at a CO2injection test site in Svelvik (Norway).

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.

Editors’ Highlights are summaries of recent papers by AGU’s journal editors. Source: AGU Advances

Global warming is expected to affect freezing and thawing (FT) water in the ground, thus changing the dynamics of rock and soil breakdown and weathering. To investigate trends in FT induced erosion, and the conditions leading to relevant impact, researchers employ numerical models calibrated to match field observations.

Kido et al. [2025] investigate FT processes in the Pekerebetsu River basin, Hokkaido, Japan, and show the key role played by snow, which insulates the ground thus decreasing the impact of warming. The results show that changes in FT under increasing temperature and snow cover are regulated by the interaction of insulation, warming and current state of FT processes. Some areas experience little change in FT because effects from increasing temperatures are offset by decreasing insulation. Other areas where such offsetting is weak may display increases in FT and, therefore, increased weathering.

Citation: Kido, R., Inoue, T., & Johnson, J. P. L. (2025). Predicting changes in hillslope freeze–thaw potential due to climate change. AGU Advances, 6, e2025AV001810. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025AV001810

—Alberto Montanari, Editor-in-Chief, AGU Advances

Text © 2025. The authors. CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
Except where otherwise noted, images are subject to copyright. Any reuse without express permission from the copyright owner is prohibited.

Editors’ Highlights are summaries of recent papers by AGU’s journal editors. Source: Water Resources Research

There is a consensus that beaver dams with associated ponding and floodplain inundation have a strong influence on ambient hydrologic and hydrogeologic conditions in mountainous alluvial valleys. However, very little quantitative information is available that sheds light on the impact on groundwater recharge and flow patterns.

In their comprehensive field and modeling study, Wang et al. [2025] show how vertical infiltration from flooded areas interacts with underflow in permeable gravel layers. Utilizing observations, sophisticated modeling, and efficient machine learning technologies, they are able identify flow patterns and rates. They also address uncertainty in groundwater storage changes and sensitivity to e.g. floodplain geometry, subsurface layering and heterogeneity in hydraulic subsurface properties. The ratio between the vertical flux and the underflow rules the flow patterns and is also key in solute transport, which has major implication for renaturation projects and water quality. A straightforward analytical solution is proposed that is transferable and can be used with remote sensing data for water balance estimations.

MODFLOW model discretization: A) Cross-section of the MODFLOW model discretization, including the soil layer, gravel bed, beaver dam, and pond level. B) Map view of the river extent colored by the constant head boundary condition for the baseflow steady state simulation. The labeled cross-section indicates the location for the cross section in A. Credit: Wang et al. [2025], Figure 4

Citation: Wang, L., Babey, T., Perzan, Z., Pierce, S., Briggs, M., Boye, K., & Maher, K. (2025). Quantifying groundwater response and uncertainty in beaver-influenced mountainous floodplains using machine learning-based model calibration. Water Resources Research, 61, e2024WR039192. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024WR039192

—Stefan Kollet, Editor, Water Resources Research

Text © 2025. The authors. CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
Except where otherwise noted, images are subject to copyright. Any reuse without express permission from the copyright owner is prohibited.

Publication date: Available online 27 October 2025

Source: Advances in Space Research

Author(s): Abhishek Verma, Virender Ranga, Dinesh Kumar Vishwakarma

Publication date: Available online 27 October 2025

Source: Advances in Space Research

Author(s): Taibin Liu, Xiaohui Ba, Dongwei Hu, Baigen Cai, Jian Wang, Jiang Liu, Wei Jiang, Debiao Lu, Kun Liang, Linguo Chai

Publication date: Available online 24 October 2025

Source: Advances in Space Research

Author(s): Feifei Chen, Xue Rui, Hehua Ju

Publication date: Available online 24 October 2025

Source: Advances in Space Research

Author(s): Mehdi Akhoondzadeh

Publication date: Available online 24 October 2025

Source: Advances in Space Research

Author(s): Jonghee Bae, Jun Bang, SeungBum Hong, Young-Joo Song

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.

Source: Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences

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 the Earth system models (ESMs) used to predict global environmental change still do not fully incorporate it.

Kou-Giesbrecht argues for the inclusion of a fully interactive nitrogen cycle in ESMs, which would account for the complex and interconnected ways nitrogen moves between the land, oceans, and atmosphere. Nitrogen has only recently been incorporated into the land components of some ESMs and only as a limiting factor of primary productivity.

Nitrogen has roles far beyond plant growth, including as a potent greenhouse gas and a driver of ozone formation and aerosol components. Wildfires release nitrogen oxides and ammonia that contribute to particulate matter concentrations, while marine microorganisms both take up and release nitrogen. Nitrogen export to the oceans influences both ocean primary productivity and ocean nitrogen emissions, and excess nitrogen in marine waters leads to eutrophication, or excessive nutrient levels that can cause harmful algal blooms.

Though globally important, many components of the nitrogen cycle in ESMs are not fully interactive, if they are included at all; rather, they are static inputs to the models. Adding dynamic representations of nitrogen cycling between the land, oceans, and atmosphere would close a significant gap in our understanding of how Earth’s climate and environment will evolve in the near future, the author argues.

To achieve this goal, more observations to better benchmark models of terrestrial nitrogen cycling are needed, as well as experimental manipulations to provide empirical constraints on nitrogen-related processes. These advances could help us understand and meet the goals of the Colombo Declaration on Sustainable Nitrogen Management to halve nitrogen waste by 2030, which could save $100 billion per year and help mitigate climate change and improve biodiversity, food security, and public health, the author says. (Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, https://doi.org/10.1029/2025JG009209, 2025)

—Nathaniel Scharping (@nathanielscharp), Science Writer

Citation: Scharping, N. (2025), Global climate models need the nitrogen cycle—all of it, Eos, 106, https://doi.org/10.1029/2025EO250401. Published on 30 October 2025. Text © 2025. AGU. CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
Except where otherwise noted, images are subject to copyright. Any reuse without express permission from the copyright owner is prohibited.

Managing fires in tropical forests can be a daunting task: Loggers and arsonists often move faster than first responders, resources are scarce, and the territory is immense. In the Brazilian Amazon, these obstacles strain a chronically underfunded environmental sector whose field agents face threats from farmers and, increasingly, organized crime.

In 2024, fires consumed 30.8 million hectares across Brazil—79% more than in 2023. More than 80% of the total burned area was inside the Legal Amazon, according to the environmental data platform MapBiomas. (The Legal Amazon is a government-designated region consisting of all nine of Brazil’s states in the Amazon basin.) Because of the scale of the fires, in August 2024, the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) increased its fire patrols to 2,227 brigadiers (firefighters), with 1,239 of them—more than half—stationed in the Legal Amazon.

Millions of Hectares in Acre

Acre is Brazil’s westernmost state, borders Peru and Bolivia, and is part of the Legal Amazon. In Acre, four professional fire brigades with 68 full-time firefighters operate in three municipalities and one protected area. A volunteer brigade also works near the state’s capital and largest city, Rio Branco.

With about 14 million hectares of forest to patrol, these forces can cover only a fraction of Acre’s territory.

Science, it turns out, has been an important tool to close that gap, because the challenge of firefighting in Acre is not just a shortage of squads on the ground; it’s also related to data access. Brazil’s environmental information is scattered across myriad agencies: the National Institute for Space Research (INPE), federal environmental agencies like IBAMA and the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation, the National Water Agency (ANA), and Brazil’s National Center for Monitoring and Alerts for Natural Disasters, as well as individual state secretariats, each working with its own priorities and cadences.

Without data in compatible formats, crucial information can overlap or contradict. “To know where to act, we need qualified information—land tenure, zoning, fire hot spots. Without that, any public policy for fires or deforestation will be ineffective in the Amazon,” said Claudio Cavalcante, chief at the Center for Environmental Geoprocessing (CIGMA), the geospatial hub Acre created within its Environmental Secretariat in 2020 to connect deforestation and fire monitoring with policy response.

CIGMA has made efforts to integrate data from across Brazil’s federal and state agencies to inform agents on the ground. “We have worked with data stratification: deforestation [in areas] from 1 to 5 hectares, then areas from 5 to 10 hectares, and then from 10 to 50. Automating some data fluxes has been a really complex and labor-intensive process,” added Cavalcante, who took part in a meeting with researchers, communicators, and policy experts at CIGMA’s headquarters in July.

Eyes on the Data

All that integration takes place in CIGMA’s Situation Room, where scientists and analysts assess live feeds of fire alerts, air quality, river levels, rainfall, drought indices, and a host of other data.

“All the maps for action on the ground are developed here. We also prepare the monthly deforestation reports and technical notes,” said Quelyson Souza, who coordinates Acre’s Environmental Secretariat’s Environmental Command and Control Group.

Quelyson Souza, who coordinates the Environmental Command and Control Group in Acre, explains how logging alerts work and how those data might be integrated into regional firefighting responses. Credit: Bibiana Garrido/IPAM Amazonia

CIGMA’s system merges INPE fire alerts with land tenure and zoning data to identify potential violators. Hydrological data from ANA, the water agency, updates every 15 minutes and feeds data to the state’s Civil Defense and Fire Department. Air quality sensors detect smoke coming from forests within or beyond Brazil’s borders.

To the coordinator of Environmental Protection Operations of Acre’s Firefighting Corps, Major Freitas Filho, the scientific data his corps has access to on the ground “is essential to optimize and refine the use of operational resources.” Acre’s fire department leads the Controlled Fire Operation, which focuses on integrating teams of military and environmental agents to fight fires during the dry season, which spans the second half of the year.

According to a report on fire management in the Amazon forest released earlier this month by the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM Amazônia), Acre has a very effective model of linking data and governance that recommends early-warning systems and open data sharing so municipalities and communities can act quickly.

Lessons from Acre

Despite the challenges, Acre stands out as one of the few Amazonian states where scientists, firefighters, and policymakers share the same room.

“It’s inspiring to see the evolution of Acre’s Situation Room. I’ve used it as a national example because action happens on the ground, even across borders,” said Liana Anderson, a remote sensing researcher at INPE.

“It’s much harder to be fooled by offenders who try to get away with their environmental wrongdoing. It’s like lifting the blindfold over one eye when you’re playing blindman’s buff.”

As Brazil prepares to host COP30 (the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference) in Belém, scientists and policymakers hope Acre’s experience can be an example of science-focused environmental management: Unified datasets, shared dashboards, and collaboration can turn information into planning and action.

“When we get to a cleared area with the information we now have access to, it’s much harder to be fooled by offenders who try to get away with their environmental wrongdoing,” Souza said. “It’s like lifting the blindfold over one eye when you’re playing blindman’s buff.”

—Meghie Rodrigues (@meghier.bsky.social), Science Writer

Meghie Rodrigues visited CIGMA’s headquarters in Acre as part of a press trip organized by IPAM Amazônia.

Citation: Rodrigues, M. (2025), In parts of the Brazilian Amazon, science leads the fight against forest fire, Eos, 106, https://doi.org/10.1029/2025EO250406. Published on 30 October 2025. Text © 2025. The authors. CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
Except where otherwise noted, images are subject to copyright. Any reuse without express permission from the copyright owner is prohibited.