Phys.org: Earth science

Clouds form upon existing particles in the atmosphere and extreme weather events like flooding and snowstorms are related to the production of large amounts of ice in clouds.

Rare earth elements are critical to many industries—used in electric motors, medical imaging and diagnostics, oil and gas refining, and computer and phone screens. The 17 rare earth elements all have important uses and are now in the news, with China halting exports to the U.S. in retaliation for tariffs and a recently signed deal for U.S. access to these and other minerals in Ukraine.

New research reveals that shifts in plant life played a key role in speeding up major climate changes during the late Miocene, a period spanning 11.6 to 5.3 million years ago.

Swarms of earthquakes have been jolting southern Italy with increasing intensity since 2022, threatening hundreds of thousands of people living atop a volcanic area known as Campi Flegrei, where the land experiences slow vertical movements.

The disappearance of sea ice in polar regions due to global warming not only increases the amount of light entering the ocean, but also changes its color. These changes have far-reaching consequences for photosynthetic organisms such as ice algae and phytoplankton.

Researchers from the Institute for Environmental Sciences (IVM) at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam have unveiled DYNAMO-M, a global agent-based model that projects how farmers across the world's coasts may respond to the growing threat of coastal flooding and salt intrusion due to sea level rise (SLR). The model, which will be presented at the EGU General Assembly 2025 in Vienna (EGU25), offers new insights into the challenges faced by 13 million farming households globally.

As Europe increases its reliance on solar energy to meet climate and energy security targets, a growing atmospheric phenomenon is complicating the path forward: Saharan dust. New research presented at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly (EGU25) shows that mineral dust carried on the wind from North Africa is not only reducing photovoltaic (PV) electricity generation across Europe but also making it harder to predict.

Frequent heat and drought events in southwestern Europe are reducing ecosystems' capacity to absorb CO₂, according to a recent study by the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB).

Researchers from several University of California campuses have collaborated to create a report on dust in California, a characteristic that defines the desert climate zone that encompasses most of the state.

A team of ocean optics experts, led by Plymouth Marine Laboratory, has evaluated the accuracy of above-water optical sensors, using a community-developed processor, to produce the highest-quality data for satellite ocean color validation and facilitate monitoring the health of our coastal seas and global ocean.

UC San Diego researchers say genetically-enhanced crops of plants featuring enlarged roots present an opportunity for society to achieve a needed drawdown of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

The world's oceans are heating faster in two bands stretching around the globe, one in the southern hemisphere and one in the north, according to new research led by climate scientist Dr. Kevin Trenberth.

For communities living in the shadow of a volcano, early warning systems are a lifeline—but mistrust in these warnings can have deadly consequences. To avoid false alarms, it is vital that scientists seek more reliable ways to monitor volcanoes.

Imagine a natural fortress standing strong against raging storms. That's what mangroves and other forested wetlands do for our coastlines. But how well do they protect us, and against which storms?

Between 252 and 66 million years ago, the ocean underwent a revolution. That's when plankton with calcium carbonate skeletons colonized the open ocean. When they died, their remains fell like snow over large parts of the seafloor. The abundance of their skeletons over time changed the marine landscape, leading to unique rock formations and vast deposits of carbonate rock.

Analyzing lava flows that solidified and then broke apart over a massive crack in Earth's crust in Turkey has brought new insights into how continents move over time, improving our understanding of earthquake risks.

As droughts worsen and water shortages hit communities worldwide, a new study in the journal Decision Analysis has uncovered a smarter way to get people to save water—without breaking the bank.

Geologists led by the University of Maryland and the University of Hawaiʻi finally connected the dots between one of the largest volcanic eruptions in Earth's history and its source deep beneath the Pacific Ocean.

Hundreds of millions of people live in areas that could be affected by volcanic eruptions. Fortunately, clues at the surface, such as earthquakes and ground deformation, can indicate movement within underground magma dikes—sheets of magma that cut across layers of rock. Scientists can use these clues to make potentially lifesaving predictions of eruptions.

Volcanoes erupting underwater have a distinctive effect on the climate that is larger and more widespread than previously thought, according to an international group led by University of Auckland and Tongan scientists. Research on Tonga's devastating 2022 Hunga eruption has just been published in the journal Nature Geoscience.