Phys.org: Earth science

The speed at which glaciers move changes predictably each year, according to the first-ever global map of how glacier and ice sheet speeds vary with the seasons. Knowing this yearly rhythm could help us better predict sea-level rise driven by long-term climate change.

Dr. Magali Nehemy stood on the banks of the Tapajós River in the Amazon rainforest when the community's chief—a man in his seventies who had lived there his whole life—looked out over the bare shoreline and shook his head.

K'gari is the world's largest sand island and known for its world-famous lakes, but research from the University of Adelaide has discovered its largest lakes could be vulnerable to drying.

A study led by researchers at the University of South Florida's College of Marine Science has found that certain populations of the seaweed sargassum have experienced a significant decline over the past decade, even as increased abundance of sargassum in the tropical Atlantic has caused large mats of the seaweed to inundate beaches across the Caribbean and Gulf regions.

For the first time, researchers have produced a detailed, high-resolution map of peatlands in the EU, showing that these areas emit twice as much greenhouse gases than previously thought. The research, led by eco-hydrologist Quint van Giersbergen of Radboud University, has been published in Nature Communications.