Phys.org: Earth science

Australia is no stranger to extreme weather. From heat waves and droughts to flooding rains, hailstorms or fire weather, our continent experiences it all.

Millions of years ago, the climate was much warmer and wetter than today. But exactly how much warmer and wetter?

Earthquake scientists detected an unusual signal on monitoring stations used to detect seismic activity during September 2023. We saw it on sensors everywhere, from the Arctic to Antarctica.

Extremely clean air on the ground, warm air intrusions and sulfate aerosol at high altitudes—a Leipzig research project has gained new insights into clouds in Antarctica. From January to December 2023, the vertical distribution of aerosol particles and clouds in the atmosphere above the German Neumayer Station III of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) was investigated from the ground for the first time.

Climate change is accelerating the melting of ice in Greenland at an alarming rate, with serious implications not only for the Arctic, but also for the global climate, including Europe. According to a study led by researchers at the University of Barcelona, extreme melting episodes—periods when large areas of snow and ice melt rapidly—have been about twice as frequent during summers in recent decades compared to the period 1950–1990.

Researchers at University of Tsukuba have shown that the 1995 Kobe (Hyogo-ken Nanbu) earthquake, which struck southern Hyogo Prefecture, may have been triggered by deep underground flooding beneath Arima Hot Springs. By analyzing the stable isotope ratios of hydrogen and oxygen as well as chloride ions in Arima hot spring water over several decades, the researchers have uncovered a likely connection between the earthquake and water originating from the subducting Philippine Sea Plate.

A nationwide analysis of community-level floodplain development found that over two-million acres of floodplain were developed over the past two decades across the United States, with roughly half of all new floodplain housing built in Florida.

The common practice of building dams to prevent flooding can actually contribute to more intense coastal flood events, according to a new study.

A newly discovered mechanism for the flow and freezing of ice sheet meltwater could improve estimates of sea level rise around the globe.

The movement of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the surface of the ocean, where it is in active contact with the atmosphere, to the deep ocean, where it can be sequestered away for decades, centuries, or longer, depends on a number of seemingly small processes.

A Dartmouth-led study by more than 50 climate scientists worldwide provides the first clear projection of how carbon emissions may drive the loss of Antarctica's ice sheet over the next 300 years.

In September 2023, scientists around the world detected a mysterious seismic signal that lasted for nine straight days. An international team of scientists, including seismologists Alice Gabriel and Carl Ebeling of UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography came together to solve the mystery.

Mega ocean warming El Niño events were key in driving the largest extinction of life on planet Earth some 252 million years ago, according to new research.

When a volcano is about to erupt, the surrounding land puffs up like a squeezed balloon. The technical term is "transient deformation," and Virginia Tech researchers have detected and tracked this short-lived movement for the first time using satellite observations of Ol Doinyo Lengai, an active Tanzanian volcano.

A remotely controlled research vessel has gathered some of the first comprehensive measurements from within the massive crater left by the Hunga volcano (formerly known as Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai) after it erupted two years ago.

The U.S. Geological Survey has released a new nationwide landslide susceptibility map that indicates nearly 44% of the U.S. could potentially experience landslide activity. The new assessment provides a highly detailed, county-by-county picture of where these damaging, disruptive and potentially deadly geologic hazards are more likely as well as areas where landslide hazards are negligible.

Ozone gas is reducing the growth of tropical forests—leaving an estimated 290 million tonnes of carbon uncaptured each year, new research shows.

A research team led by the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW) has analyzed 50,000 years of mid-latitude hydroclimate of the South-East Pacific using special moisture related indicators in marine sediment cores. They have found that natural variations in the Earth's orbital parameters exert a decisive influence.

University of Minnesota researchers have developed a new tool to measure ethane from space, leading to a better understanding of fossil fuel emissions worldwide. Ethane is commonly found in natural gas and is primarily used in plastics manufacturing.

As the world tries to mitigate agriculture's effect on the environment, much of the story can be found in soil, which stores and cycles nutrient elements of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus.