Phys.org: Earth science

An international team of scientists has uncovered evidence glaciers in the Southern and Northern hemispheres were synchronous during the last ice age.

During training cruises and regattas, sailors collect valuable data for climate research at sea. A study appearing in Science Advances showed that this data can help improve estimates of the marine carbon sink.

Research from Monash University reveals the climate history behind Asia's summer monsoon—Earth's most influential climate system. In a new study published in npj Climate and Atmospheric Science, an international team of researchers led by Monash University has uncovered the pivotal role of the Tibetan Plateau's uplift in shaping Asia's iconic summer monsoon.

Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica on October 28, 2025, as a category 5 storm, bringing sustained winds of 295 kilometers (185 miles) per hour and leaving a broad path of destruction on the island. The storm displaced tens of thousands of people, damaged or destroyed more than 100,000 structures, inflicted costly damage on farmland, and left the nation's forests brown and battered.

Floods, droughts and heat waves continue to dominate headlines around the world and in Australia.

Water extremes such as droughts and floods have a huge impact on communities, ecosystems, and economies. Researchers with The University of Texas at Austin have turned their attention to tracking these extremes across Earth and have discovered what is driving them.

For decades, the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has offered a snapshot of the planet's changing climate—but University of Toronto researchers have found that some of the underlying data underrepresents a key driver of Arctic warming.

McGill engineering researchers have introduced an open-source model that makes it easier for experts and non-experts alike to evaluate greenhouse gas emissions from U.S. natural gas supply chains and yields more accurate results.

The fault beneath Istanbul doesn't behave the way scientists once thought.

The US is saber-rattling over Greenland once again. The vast island's natural resources are back on the agenda, a year after then-US national security advisor Michael Waltz announced: "This is about critical minerals. This is about natural resources."

Connecticut gets snow in the winter, but that's about it for bad weather.

The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the planet's greatest driver of year-to-year climate swings, shapes temperature, rainfall, and extreme weather around the world. Its impact ranges from heat waves and floods to air pollution and disruptions to food security, with growing evidence that these climate fluctuations influence human health and economic growth.

Global efforts to reduce pollution will not be enough to mitigate the worst effects of climate change, scientists say. We will also need to extract over 10 gigatons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year for the next century. However, currently only two gigatons are being removed annually, so we have to rapidly scale up existing methods or come up with new ideas.

Climate change is no longer just about melting ice or hotter summers. It is also a financial problem. Droughts, floods, storms and heat waves damage crops, factories and infrastructure. At the same time, the global push to cut greenhouse gas emissions creates risks for countries that depend on oil, gas or coal.

Weeks after Cyclone Senyar made landfall in northern Sumatra, Indonesia, the province of Aceh continues to struggle. The cyclone passed through the Strait of Malacca in late November, bringing heavy rains and causing widespread flooding in parts of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. More than 500 people were killed and 250,000 people displaced in Aceh alone.

After a weekend of extreme heat and windy conditions, more than 30 blazes were still burning in Victoria and New South Wales as of Sunday evening, including major fires in the Otways, near the town of Alexandra in central Victoria, and on the NSW-Victoria border near Corryong.

Rivers deliver freshwater, nutrients, and carbon to Earth's oceans, influencing the chemistry of coastal seawater worldwide. Notably, a river's alkalinity and the levels of dissolved inorganic carbon it brings to the sea help to shape regional conditions for marine life, including shellfish and corals. These factors also affect the ability of coastal seawater to absorb carbon dioxide from Earth's atmosphere—which can have major implications for climate change.

The Thwaites and Pine Island glaciers, located in the Amundsen Sea sector of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS), are among the fastest-melting glaciers on Earth. Together, they are losing ice more rapidly than any other part of Antarctica, raising serious concerns about the long-term stability of the ice sheet and its contribution to future sea-level rise.

In order to understand currents, tides and other ocean dynamics, scientists need to accurately capture sea surface height, or a snapshot of the ocean's surface, including peaks and valleys due to changes in wind, currents and temperature, at any given moment. In order to more accurately forecast ocean circulation and other processes, climate variability, air-sea interactions and extreme weather events, researchers need to be able to accurately predict sea surface height into the future.

Hydroperoxides are strong oxidants that have a significant influence on chemical processes in the atmosphere. Now, an international research team involving the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) has shown that these substances also form from α‑keto acids such as pyruvic acid in clouds, rain and aerosol water when exposed to sunlight.