Phys.org: Earth science

Most of the earthquakes we hear about are due to tectonic plates colliding or sliding past each other near plate boundaries. Yet researchers have detected some enigmatic earthquakes happening inside the more stable interiors of plates. Intermediate-depth earthquakes (IDEs), which occur around 70–300 kilometers (43–186 miles) below the surface, are especially puzzling because rocks at those depths are hot enough to flow more fluidly.

Communities around the world have adapted to live on the year-round frozen soil of frigid environments, such as in the Arctic. However, rising temperatures have introduced a new challenge: What happens when the ground under houses and roads begins to melt?

In a strong El Niño winter, normally dry regions can suddenly drown in rain. NASA notes that "typically dry regions can experience nearly two times as much rain during a strong El Niño." Indeed, the blockbuster El Niños of 1982–83 and 1997–98 unleashed record-breaking California storms and unusually mild Northeast winters. These far-reaching effects—atmospheric "teleconnections" linking the tropics to North America—arise because Pacific warming steers the jet stream south and east.

While Reno families were celebrating the 1997 New Year, the Truckee River was surging into the city's downtown streets. A rainstorm was falling on the Sierra Nevada's deep snowpack, melting it rapidly and creating a hazardous situation for downstream communities.

Traditional global climate models were like early digital cameras—they had only about 10,000 pixels to cover the entire planet. At that low resolution, big storm systems looked like blurry blobs. You couldn't see their true shape, how long they lasted or where they dumped the heaviest rain.

The Ontong Java Plateau in the western Pacific Ocean is the largest oceanic plateau on Earth, and its formation mechanism has not been well understood.

Over 40,000 seamounts—undersea mountains that don't breach the ocean's surface—are scattered across the ocean floor. Some form linear chains, while others occur as dispersed, isolated features that are not part of well-defined volcanic chains.

The warm Gulf Stream is maintained by coldness. The Barents Sea is a cooling machine. To predict how ocean currents in the Atlantic Ocean may develop, one needs to know what drives them. The hunt for driving forces has led researchers to follow the warm water from the Gulf Stream as far north as it gets.

Sedimentary basins—depressions in Earth's crust caused by tectonic activity—tend to be flat and are favored places to build cities. But during earthquakes, they can become natural resonance chambers.

Researchers have developed a new approach using data from NASA's Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite to observe the timing and progression of fall colors across landscapes.

The Arctic and northern high latitudes are warming about 2–4 times faster than the global average, allowing ancient permafrost to thaw and release stored carbon. These permafrost soils currently store roughly one-third of the world's organic soil carbon, much of which has remained frozen for thousands of years. As the soils thaw, organic matter from dead plants and animals within them starts to decompose, and greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, are released.

Changes in wind patterns play the leading role in influencing often devastating tropical rainfall changes, rather than simply the warming atmosphere holding more moisture, according to new research.

Planting trees is widely promoted as a natural solution to climate change. But a new study led by researchers from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences finds that the hydrological consequences of reforestation depend critically on how much the world warms.

Climate change is altering where and when rocks are most likely to fracture across Spain, according to new research that suggests warming temperatures are redistributing a key process responsible for breaking down mountain landscapes.

Researchers at the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research have investigated how water from streams can be stored in the aquifer during wet periods. Using an area in the lower Spree catchment in Brandenburg as an example, the team used a computer model to show that naturally occurring small basins in the landscape could absorb excess stream water, allowing it to seep slowly into the ground and subsequently stabilize groundwater and connected surface water bodies. In the calculations, the groundwater level rose locally by up to 2 meters (6.6 feet). Water flow in connected streams could be increased by up to 15%. The study was published in the Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies.

Most people have experienced a heat wave on land. But heat waves can strike in the ocean too. And as the planet continues to warm, marine heat waves are growing longer and deadlier, hurting the seafood supply that billions of people worldwide rely on for their food and livelihoods.

During an abrupt global cold snap nearly 13,000 years ago, the Gulf Stream ocean current shifted farther north, temporarily disrupting eastern Canada's oceanic ecosystems, a process that could happen again as the climate changes, a new study by UCL researchers finds.

Hilly and mountainous landscapes have a much greater ability to store carbon in the soil than previously thought, according to a new study co-led by scientists at the University of Oregon.

The temperature of rivers is something most people think about only if they plan to go swimming, kayaking or spend a day fishing. Few consider how it could potentially affect their electricity bill.

Nitrate pollution is a growing global environmental challenge due to the extensive use of fertilizer. A study published in Science, led by the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) with the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research (UFZ), shows that both the amount of water moving through landscapes and how fast it moves play a key role in nitrogen pollution risk.