Phys.org: Earth science

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.

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.

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.

The soil beneath our feet is a huge carbon bank storing up to approximately three times more carbon than the entire atmosphere. That makes it a significant player in the future of our climate. If even a small fraction of the carbon escapes into the air as carbon dioxide, it could accelerate planetary heating. But what determines whether the carbon stays in the ground or escapes? According to new research published in the journal Nature Climate Change, water is the deciding factor. The wetter the soil, the more carbon stays in the ground.

In Science of The Total Environment, researchers demonstrate the broad distribution of particulate thiols in the western North Pacific and show that their main source is marine phytoplankton. The analysis indicates that differences in thiol concentrations between ocean areas are significantly influenced by water mass properties, phytoplankton composition, and environmental stress.

Alaska's glaciers respond to climate change by melting for three additional weeks with every 1 degree Celsius increase in the average summer temperature, data from satellite-mounted radars show.

For half the world's population, the water in their drinking glasses comes from below them. Groundwater also supplies 40% of global irrigation projects. Alarmingly, more than a third of the planet's aquifers, or groundwater basins, are dropping. Declining water tables leave entire regions vulnerable to drought, land subsidence or seawater intrusion while damaging ecosystems and reducing water access. Properly securing this resource is a matter of social, humanitarian and environmental security.

Every time we do a load of laundry, tiny fibers of polyester escape from our clothes and slip down the drain. These microfibers, so small they can be invisible to the naked eye, are among the most common forms of microplastic in the ocean. Yet, new research published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans shows that most of them may not make it that far.

A potentially huge underground reservoir of freshwater beneath the Great Salt Lake is coming into sharper focus with a new study that used airborne electromagnetic (AEM) surveys to X-ray geologic structures under Farmington Bay and Antelope Island off the lake's southeastern shore.