Phys.org: Earth science

Air pollution from secondary organic aerosols (SOA) has now become a greater problem in Chinese cities since 2013 because regulations have successfully reduced fine particulate matter (PM2.5) emitted directly from, for example, vehicles and industries, according to a study led by Prof. Huang Rujin at the Institute of Earth Environment of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Prof. Marianne Glasius at Aarhus University.

The death toll following the recent earthquake in Afghanistan continues to rise. Taliban-led health authorities now say at least 800 people have been killed and 2,000 injured.

Too little snowfall is now also shaking the foundations of some of the world's most resilient "water towers," a new study led by the Pellicciotti group at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) shows. After establishing a monitoring network on a new benchmark glacier in central Tajikistan, the international team of researchers was able to model the entire catchment's behavior from 1999 to 2023.

The natural phenomenon of upwelling, which occurs annually in the Gulf of Panama, failed for the first time on record in 2025. A study led by scientists from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) indicates that the weakening of the trade winds was the cause of this event. This finding highlights the climate's impact on fundamental oceanic processes and the coastal communities that depend on them.

The rise in global mean sea level (GMSL) is a critical indicator of climate change. Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) researchers have utilized advanced space geodetic technologies to deliver the first precise 30-year (1993–2022) record of global ocean mass change (also known as barystatic sea level), revealing its dominant role in driving GMSL rise.

Natural hydrogen from deep underground could be an important building block for the sustainable energy system of the future, but it is currently still difficult to predict where and at what depth elevated concentrations are located. New study results from the Department of Geology at the University of Vienna could make such predictions easier in the future. So-called "fairy circles"—round patches with vegetation damage—could be helpful indicators. This is because these "fairy circles" subside due to the seepage of natural hydrogen.

One of the worst earthquakes in European history ripped through Portugal in 1755, causing a tsunami, fires and shaking that killed tens of thousands of people and caused widespread destruction. Another less well-documented earthquake occurred in the same region in 1356, and a more recent 7.9 magnitude earthquake occurred in 1969. The most recent event was recorded by seismic instruments and has been found to have originated from the flat Horseshoe Abyssal Plain, which is not near any known major tectonic faults.

In recent years, Pacific island nations have earned global credibility as champions of climate action. Pacific leaders view sea level rise as an existential threat.

A team of researchers from Monash University has made a discovery that could reshape our understanding of greenhouse gas emissions from coastal ecosystems. Published in Nature Geoscience, the study reveals sandy coastlines, which make up half the world's continental margins, are a previously overlooked source of methane.

Global climate change is making temperatures hotter, particularly in densely populated cities, which can adversely affect the health of residents. While mitigation efforts are urgent, it is hard for urban planners to identify exactly where to target as accurate, long-term climate records created over fine spatial scales have been unavailable.

The Operational Land Imager on Landsat 9 captured this image of Buccaneer Archipelago on June 11, 2025.

The climate benefits of planting trees may have been greatly overestimated, but swift action could ensure reforestation meets its potential to curb dangerous emissions, new research has found.

Glaciers across High Mountain Asia are losing more than 22 gigatons of ice per year—the equivalent to nearly 9 million Olympic swimming pools, according to research from the University of Utah and Virginia Tech. The impact of a warming climate on glacial loss is undisputed—this new study provides the first evidence that seasonal shifts in rainfall and snowfall patterns, particularly of the South Asian monsoons, are also exacerbating glacier melting across the region.

Picture this: You're stuck in traffic on a summer afternoon, checking the weather app on your phone as dark storm clouds roll in. You might think about power outages or possible flooding, but you probably don't think about how every lightning bolt that flashes across the sky also emits a gas, nitrogen oxide (NO), that is also emitted in the exhaust from your car's engine.

The Philippines, like other tropical countries, is known more for its balmy climate than for hailstorms. But a new Philippine study—the first of its kind—has found that the country's hottest days are, in fact, more likely to produce hail. The paper is published in the Asia-Pacific Journal of Atmospheric Sciences.

Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere vary naturally between ice ages and interglacial periods. A new study by researchers at the University of Gothenburg shows that an unexpectedly large proportion of carbon dioxide emissions after the ice age may have come from thawing permafrost.

Some 14,000 years ago, algal blooms in the Southern Ocean helped to massively reduce the global carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere—as has now been revealed by new analyses of ancient DNA published by a team from the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) in the journal Nature Geoscience. In the ocean around the Antarctic continent, these algal blooms had a significant impact on global carbon dynamics. The current and expected future decline in sea ice in this region now poses a serious threat to these algae, which could incur global consequences.

Solid as they are, rocks are not static materials with constant properties. Even small loads are enough to alter their mechanical properties; their reaction to being deformed is a loss of stiffness. Rocks which have been damaged in such a way are then less able to withstand loads, such as gravity or tectonic stresses. This phenomenon is therefore of relevance for understanding the occurrence of material failure, as in landslides or earthquakes.

Materials scientists at the University of California San Diego have performed powerful laser shock experiments on a perovskite mineral to better understand the geophysical processes in Earth's deep interior and the mechanisms behind earthquakes deep within the planet.

About 71% of Earth's surface is covered by the vast oceans. When winds blow over the sea surface, they transfer energy to the water, creating waves. Some of these waves, under the force of strong winds, break and produce tiny airborne droplets that become sea spray aerosols. This process happens across all oceans and is one of the world's largest sources of aerosols. Despite decades of research, scientists still do not fully understand the impact on the planet's climate, especially how much they contribute to particles that form clouds, known as cloud condensation nuclei.