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Author(s): Citlali Bruce Rosete, Mireia Leon Dasi, Mark R. Boyd, Kim Angelique Kahle, Frederik Dall’Omo, Paula Benitez Sesmilo, Marius Anger, Majdi Assaid, Vincenzo Davide Cardinale, Wiebe de Gruijter, Simone Filomeno, Jan-Vincent Harre, Jakub Kowalczyk, Alex McDougall-Page, Gerald Mösenlechner, Johannes Ora, Isabel Pitz, Rick Röthlisberger, Vito Saggese, Kamil Serafin

Autonomous path planning for stratospheric airships via deep reinforcement learning with wind field fusion

Recent articles in Advances in Space Research - Sun, 03/15/2026 - 19:11

Publication date: 1 March 2026

Source: Advances in Space Research, Volume 77, Issue 5

Author(s): Shaofeng Bu, Wenming Xie, Xuchen Shen, Xiaodong Peng, Cheng Liu, Jingyi Ren

Avalanche risks are rising—researchers say governance must rise with them

Phys.org: Earth science - Sun, 03/15/2026 - 17:30

The findings of a new paper show governance and preparedness rather than hazard magnitude determine whether avalanches become mass-casualty events. With large ice-rock avalanches growing in frequency as steep slopes in the Himalaya become unstable due to rapid glacier retreat, extreme precipitation and permafrost degradation, scientists believe saving lives, protecting infrastructure and reducing long-term economic losse s in some of the world's most hazard-exposed regions could be achieved through several practical steps.

Models warn Thwaites Glacier could rival entire Antarctic ice loss by 2067

Phys.org: Earth science - Sun, 03/15/2026 - 17:00

The future of one of Antarctica's most iconic glaciers could be far more dramatic than scientists previously thought. Using satellite calibrated ice sheet models, a team of researchers from the University of Edinburgh found that the Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica could be shedding 180–200 gigatonnes of ice per year by 2067—a rate roughly comparable to the entire Antarctic ice sheet's current mass loss. That would represent a stunning acceleration in ice loss from a single glacier and underlines urgent concerns about future contributions to sea level rise.

Alaska's glacial lakes are expanding, increasing the risk of destructive outburst floods

Phys.org: Earth science - Sat, 03/14/2026 - 18:30

Every summer, people living near the Mendenhall River in Juneau, Alaska, keep a close eye on the water level. When the river level begins to rise rapidly, it's a sign that Suicide Basin, a small glacier-dammed lake 5 miles up the mountains, has broken through the glacier again and a glacial lake outburst flood is underway.

Eaton fire sent a pollution wave across Los Angeles, study shows

Phys.org: Earth science - Sat, 03/14/2026 - 18:00

The 2025 Eaton fire's smoke did more than darken the sky: It generated a carbon monoxide and particulate matter surge that far exceeded Los Angeles County's average daily human-caused emissions, according to a new study led by researchers at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. The findings are published in the journal ACS ES&T Air.

Improving the resolvability of MMAX truncation via deeper order statistics

Geophysical Journal International - Sat, 03/14/2026 - 00:00

SummaryThe maximum possible earthquake magnitude (${{M}_{MAX}}$) is a consequential parameter that is difficult to quantify. In this paper, order statistics concepts are adapted to infer ${{M}_{MAX}}$ from an earthquake catalogue. Examining jumps in the ordered sequence of largest events significantly improves inferences of ${{M}_{MAX}}$ truncation; I continue this improvement by considering deeper metrics (i.e., jumps in the second, third, fourth, … largest events). I begin by providing a theoretical foundation for these deeper metrics, while highlighting special cases. Synthetic tests are performed to quantify the improvements gained. While the largest information gains arise from the largest event sequence, appreciable gains are found to depths of ten. This approach is also validated on real-data cases, such as Groningen and FORGE, demonstrating their utility. Overall, this approach will contribute to better understanding earthquake hazards and discerning the physical processes that allow earthquakes to grow large.

Ojos del Salado: how active is this sleeping giant?

Geophysical Journal International - Sat, 03/14/2026 - 00:00

SummaryThe Ojos del Salado Volcano, the highest active volcano in the world, is located at the southern end of the Puna plateau in central Chile. Here, the subduction angle of the down-going Nazca plate shallows, causing volcanism to move inland marking the southern end of the Central Andean Volcanic Zone (CAVZ). Little is known about the current volcanic activity at this southern edge or the dominant crustal stresses at these volcanic centres. In this study, we use a temporary network of 29 geophones to record local seismicity at the Ojos del Salado volcano. The type of seismic event, number of events per day, location, and magnitudes of events all provide insight into the structure, material properties, and activity level of the volcano. Between February 6th and 28th 2024, this network recorded 93 events with local magnitudes larger than 0, the largest having local magnitude 2.8. The events formed two main clusters, one on the western flank of Ojos del Salado itself near the summit, and a smaller cluster to the north. Most events in the northern cluster occurred within a 35 minute seismic swarm on February 8th. Twenty-one fault plane solutions were determined for events within the network. Six of these occurred during the northern swarm and showed steep oblique faulting and fifteen in the summit cluster, which mainly show normal faulting with strikes comparable to E-W oriented mapped faults in the area. Fault plane solutions at both clusters indicate a north-south extensional stress state. This agrees with the regional stress axes of the southern Puna plateau found in other studies, suggesting that the local crustal stresses at the Ojos del Salado volcano mainly follow the regional stresses with some variation in fault planes near the summit and in the northern swarm that could be due to locally high magmatic or geothermal fluid stresses. Heavy rain in the days preceding the northern swarm may have increased the amount of fluid available, potentially inducing the swarm on February 8th. No seismicity was observed near the Laguna Verde, or the two smaller volcanoes within the network: the Barrancas Blancas and Mulas Muertas. Ojos del Salado is therefore the main source of seismic activity and likely heat source within the study area. The level of seismicity and the occurrence of a seismic swarm to the north and five small seismic swarms near the summit suggest that there is still volcanic activity at Ojos del Salado and it could benefit from monitoring.

Low energy gamma rays from the Moon and hydrogen content of the lunar surface

Recent articles in Advances in Space Research - Fri, 03/13/2026 - 19:10

Publication date: Available online 5 March 2026

Source: Advances in Space Research

Author(s): Shipra, Debabrata Banerjee, Shiv Kumar Goyal