Earthquakes occur when the tectonic plates of the Earth's crust shift, jolting past each other in a release of built-up tension. However, other natural forces can also influence seismic activity: Hydrological dynamics, like changes in groundwater and snowpacks, in particular, put pressure on faults. A new study from Caltech finds that a higher rate of change in groundwater levels leads to a noticeable increase in seismic activity. The work is published in the journal Science Advances.
A wildfire forecasting system powered by artificial intelligence (AI) could help detect dangerous fire conditions earlier and reduce the cost of wildfire response, according to new research from Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha, University of Canterbury (UC). The work is published in the International Journal of Wildland Fire.
This past winter, the Rocky Mountains experienced an historic snow drought, a worrying development for the tens of millions of people in the arid American West who depend on snowmelt for water. Now, a new study in the journal Geology investigates the geologic history of a surprising process that might be making the problem even worse: sublimation, the process by which frozen water transforms directly into water vapor, skipping the liquid phase altogether.
Across much of the Western United States, winter 2026 was the year the snow never came. Many ski resorts got by with snowmaking but shut down their winter operations early. Fire officials and water supply managers are worried about summer.
Publication date: Available online 18 March 2026
Source: Advances in Space Research
Author(s): Ramin Saadi Esfangareh, Fatemeh Imanpour, Mahdi Hasanlou
Publication date: Available online 17 March 2026
Source: Advances in Space Research
Author(s): Yifan Shen, Guangjian Xu, Liang Chen, Qiang Wang, Huizhong Zhu, Wei Zheng, Peifeng Kang, Shijie Zhao
Publication date: Available online 17 March 2026
Source: Advances in Space Research
Author(s): Wen Yu, Xiaojia Zeng, Xiongyao Li
Publication date: Available online 17 March 2026
Source: Advances in Space Research
Author(s): Yuqing Wang, Huijun Le, Libo Liu, Yiding Chen, Bo Xiong, Ruilong Zhang, Rongjin Du
Publication date: Available online 17 March 2026
Source: Advances in Space Research
Author(s): Zhen Yan, Satoru Kawasaki
Publication date: Available online 17 March 2026
Source: Advances in Space Research
Author(s): Mohamed E. Hereher
Earth's magnetic field acts as a vital shield against radiation arriving from space, but it is not constant. A new international study has examined how a reduction of the magnetic field similar to the Laschamps excursion would affect aviation on routes such as Helsinki–Dubai and Helsinki–New York if it occurred today.
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.
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.
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.
