Phys.org: Earth science

Unlike conventional glaciers, rock glaciers appear as piles of rock that obscure large masses of unaccounted-for ice. Rock glaciers are common in the Wasatch and Uinta ranges, even appearing on the Colorado Plateau in the La Sal Mountains near Moab.

A new study that combines paleoclimate data and climate models suggests that large volcanic eruptions can disrupt the relationship between atmospheric circulation patterns over the tropical Indian and Pacific oceans. In addition, human-caused greenhouse gas emissions are now driving an unprecedented breakdown in interbasin coupling, according to researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).

Pure water freezes only at around -38°C (-36°F). Tiny mineral dust particles act as so-called ice nucleators—crystallization seeds on which ice crystals form. A research team at Bielefeld University and the University of Vienna, in cooperation with researchers at the University of Helsinki, has now demonstrated for the first time at the molecular scale why the mineral microcline is particularly effective at forming ice in clouds. The study, published in published in the journal Nature Communications, provides a new explanation for processes that influence climate and precipitation worldwide.

Selma Sarı and an international group of colleagues investigated the TOL-1 section in the Mut Basin (southern Türkiye), while documenting the world's highest known Late Middle Pleistocene (MIS 7) marine deposits, preserved at 1,177 m (3,860 feet) above mean sea level on the southern margin of the Central Anatolian Plateau.

Can a city's seawall stand up to a blockbuster storm? Will a region's power grid hold against record-breaking heat? And can a town's firefighting resources contain a major wildfire?

From Texas to Maine, coastal wetlands and marshes are releasing more than 1.45 billion pounds (660,000 metric tons) of carbon into the ocean each year, according to new research supported by NASA. Coastal marshes, like forests and tundra, store large amounts of carbon in their plants and soil, but changes caused by storms, rising seas and human development can affect how that carbon is stored and transported.

Tide levels can vary by almost a meter across a single bay, according to a new study that uses decades of satellite images to measure tides at the scale of individual beaches.

Marine heat waves and extreme ocean acidification events are each damaging on their own. But when both stressors hit simultaneously, their individual effects can be exacerbated.

Under global warming, scientists have widely expected tropical cyclones (including typhoons and hurricanes) to bring more intense and frequent rainfall. The underlying physics seems intuitive: Rising temperatures allow the atmosphere to hold more moisture, which, combined with intensifying storms, should theoretically trigger more destructive downpours. However, when researchers analyze climate model projections, they encounter a puzzling phenomenon.

A new study has reconciled a long-standing paradox in the South Asian summer monsoon cycle. Climate scientists have discovered why geological records from land and sea have told opposite stories about monsoons throughout history and found that rising temperatures over Southern Africa reduce upwelling in the Arabian Sea, which could damage marine productivity and fisheries. The work is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

As autumn gives way to winter across the Arctic, the ground doesn't immediately freeze solid. Instead, soils often linger near the freezing point for days or even weeks in a phase called the zero curtain. In a new NASA-led study, researchers produced high-resolution maps of the Arctic zero curtain.

Sometimes science throws up the unexpected. When a team of researchers set out to model river erosion in Canada's High Arctic, they did not expect the findings to defy common sense.

Earth's inner core, composed primarily of iron with a small percentage of light elements, may enter a superionic state at extreme pressure and temperature, according to experimental results from researchers at Science Tokyo. Using laser-heated and electrically wired diamond-anvil cells, the researchers identified experimental signatures of superionic iron hydride at conditions relevant to Earth's core. These findings provide new insights into the composition and dynamics of Earth's deep interior.

Why do some lakes remain plagued by harmful algal blooms even after phosphorus pollution has been reduced? Part of the answer lies beneath the surface. A new Concordia study has uncovered a previously overlooked chemical process that can help trap phosphorus in lake sediments, preventing it from returning to the water, where it can fuel excessive plant and algal growth.

Seismic waves produced by thunderstorms, called thunderquakes, can be used as a novel source for seismic imaging, according to a new study led by researchers at Penn State.

Jennifer Bhatnagar spent the summer of 2023 traversing barren hillsides blackened by wildfire in northern California. She walked through devastated properties, examined the hot soil beneath her feet, collected samples and asked questions.

Offshore wind farms are a key pillar of the energy transition. The European Union plans to expand offshore wind capacity in the North Sea by 2050. A new study by the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon indicates that a very extensive expansion could influence regional precipitation patterns: While precipitation over the sea could increase, it could decrease in coastal regions.

Over the past 230,000 years, the growth and retreat of the Icelandic ice sheet have led to major changes in the seawater chemistry of the North Atlantic, caused by the interaction between volcanism and ice in Iceland. Scientists at the Institute of Environmental Physics at Heidelberg University have demonstrated this using sediment cores from the northeastern Atlantic—the Rockall Plateau.

A new study published in Communications Earth & Environment, with contributions from researchers at the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT), shows that higher seawater temperatures could significantly reduce the long-term ability of underwater plants to store carbon.

Extreme precipitation events are among the most damaging natural disasters and a major concern in our changing climate. In the U.S., since 1980, the most destructive events alone have caused more than 2,800 deaths and $700 billion in damages. But what is the total area of the country affected by these events each year? And how have these patterns changed over the past several decades? In a recent study in Geophysical Research Letters, led by researchers at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, which is part of the Columbia Climate School, the authors discovered some unexpected trends.