https://phys.org/earth-news/earth-sciences en-us The latest news on earth sciences and the environment Deep sea and sediments bring iron to Antarctic waters. The iron that fertilizes the waters around Antarctica mostly comes from the deep, upwelling waters and the sediments around the continent. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-deep-sea-sediments-iron-antarctic.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 06 Mar 2024 16:15:03 EST news628964102 Land–atmosphere interactions play a crucial role in shaping Earth's climate system, profoundly influencing weather patterns, climate variables, and ecological processes. Despite being located at similar latitudes, the Tibetan Plateau (TP) and Yangtze River region (YRR) represent two distinct climate zones, garnering significant attention in this field. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-net-high-elevation-tibetan-plateau.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 06 Mar 2024 15:36:02 EST news628961761 Getting climate models to mimic real-time observations when it comes to warming is critical—small discrepancies can lead to misunderstandings about the rate of global warming as the climate changes. A new study from North Carolina State University and Duke University finds that when modeling warming trends in the Pacific Ocean, there is still a missing piece to the modeling puzzle: the effect of wind on ocean currents in the equatorial Pacific. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-equator-key-accurate-future-climate.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 06 Mar 2024 15:27:03 EST news628961221 After more than seven years of development, MethaneSAT recently launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. A collaboration between the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, the Environmental Defense Fund and other partners, MethaneSAT will be capable of spotting methane emissions from space, producing data from high-resolution images that can cover hundreds of square kilometers at a time. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-qa-edge-methane.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 06 Mar 2024 14:46:12 EST news628958766 As the austral summer draws to a close, we are preparing to fly over the Southern Alps to survey glaciers. This annual flight supports the longest scientific study of Aotearoa New Zealand's icescapes—and it shows that all of our glaciers have retreated since 1978. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-frozen-reveal-nz-glaciers-extinct.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 06 Mar 2024 11:30:01 EST news628945566 Eighty-five percent of the Earth's air resides in the lowest layer of its atmosphere, or troposphere. Yet, major gaps remain in our understanding of the atmospheric chemistry that drives changes in the troposphere's composition. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-unprecedented-view-aerosol-formation-earth.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 06 Mar 2024 11:15:53 EST news628946148 Africa, Asia, Australia, Antarctica, North and South America, Europe—and the Maritime Continent. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-heard-maritime-continent-australia-channels.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 06 Mar 2024 11:10:01 EST news628943431 One in 50 people living in two dozen coastal cities in the United States could experience significant flooding by 2050, according to Virginia Tech-led research. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-thousands-coastal-residents.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 06 Mar 2024 11:00:01 EST news628942548 Changes in human activity may have led to atmospheric CO2 levels declining in the 16th century, due to large-scale land use changes in the Americas during New World-Old World contact between 1450 and 1700 CE, suggests a Nature Communications paper. The findings are based on data from an Antarctic ice core, dated up to about 500 years old. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-ice-cores-16th-century-pandemics.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 06 Mar 2024 10:59:10 EST news628945149 A series of atmospheric rivers drenched California in February, with record amounts of rainfall and hurricane-force winds sweeping across parts of the state. At one point, weather agencies posted flood watches for nearly the entirety of California's coast. The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission captured data on some of the flooding near the community of Manchester, roughly 105 miles (169 kilometers) north of San Francisco. The satellite is a collaboration between NASA and the French space agency, CNES (Centre National d'Études Spatiales). https://phys.org/news/2024-03-satellite-coastal-california-storms.html Earth Sciences Environment Tue, 05 Mar 2024 17:12:04 EST news628881123 Take a deep breath. Pay attention to how air moves from your nose to your throat before filling your lungs with oxygen. As you exhale your breath, a mix of oxygen and carbon dioxide leaves your nose and mouth. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-river-global-carbon.html Earth Sciences Environment Tue, 05 Mar 2024 15:35:04 EST news628875301 Will ice floating in the Arctic Ocean move faster or slower over the coming decades? The answer to this question will tell us whether marine transportation can be expected to get more or less hazardous. It might also have important implications for the rate of ice cover loss, which is hugely consequential for Northern Indigenous communities, ecosystems, and the global climate system. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-decades-arctic-sea-ice-faster.html Earth Sciences Environment Tue, 05 Mar 2024 15:20:03 EST news628874401 Scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst recently combined satellite data, field observations, and sophisticated numerical modeling to paint a picture of how 22.45 million square kilometers of the Arctic will change over the next 80 years. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-arctic-river-environment.html Earth Sciences Environment Tue, 05 Mar 2024 13:00:04 EST news628866001 In the four years since the Black Summer bushfires, Australia has become more focused on how best to prepare for, fight and recover from these traumatic events. But one issue has largely flown under the radar: how the emissions produced by bushfires are measured and reported. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-dangerously-world-grim-reality-australia.html Earth Sciences Environment Tue, 05 Mar 2024 12:41:04 EST news628864861 Global warming caused by increased concentrations of greenhouse gases is already affecting our lives. Scorching summers, more intense heat waves, longer drought periods, more extended floods, and wilder wildfires are consequences linked to this warming. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-global-frequency-intensity-cold.html Earth Sciences Environment Tue, 05 Mar 2024 12:39:04 EST news628864741 Data from the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) have revealed another summer of exceptionally low sea-ice extent around Antarctica. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-lows-antarctic-sea-ice.html Earth Sciences Environment Tue, 05 Mar 2024 11:23:02 EST news628860179 The Arctic could see summer days with practically no sea ice as early as the next couple of years, according to a new study out of the University of Colorado Boulder. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-arctic-ice-free-decade-scientists.html Earth Sciences Environment Tue, 05 Mar 2024 11:00:01 EST news628851621 The water cycle looks simple in theory—but human impacts, climate change, and complicated geography mean that in practice, floods and droughts remain hard to predict. To model water on Earth, you need incredibly high-resolution data across an immense expanse, and you need modeling sophisticated enough to account for everything from snowcaps on mountains to soil moisture in valleys. Now, scientists have made a tremendous step forward by building the most detailed models created to date. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-digital-twin-earth-technology-based.html Earth Sciences Environment Tue, 05 Mar 2024 05:00:08 EST news628837205 If you've driven the mostly flat stretch of I-25 in Colorado from Pueblo to Trinidad, you've seen them: the Spanish Peaks, twin mountains that soar into the sky out of nowhere, reaching altitudes of 13,628 and 12,701 feet above sea level. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-geologists-explore-hidden-history-colorado.html Earth Sciences Mon, 04 Mar 2024 17:51:04 EST news628797062 A global team of researchers has made strides in refining weather forecasting methods, with a specific focus on addressing the persistent issue of "quantile crossing." This phenomenon disrupts the order of predicted values in weather forecasts and arises from the numerical weather prediction (NWP) process—a two-step forecasting method involving observations and atmospheric evolution laws. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-statistical-reliability-weather-machine.html Earth Sciences Environment Mon, 04 Mar 2024 15:47:03 EST news628789621 As global temperatures continue to rise, coastal communities are confronted with the pressing challenge of surging sea levels. The urgency to provide decision-makers with reliable forecasts of future sea levels becomes increasingly critical. At the forefront of this predictive effort lies Dynamic Sea Level (DSL), a nuanced variable intricately linked to seawater density and ocean circulation, currently under intensive scrutiny in climate models. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-scientists-uncertainties-sea.html Earth Sciences Environment Mon, 04 Mar 2024 15:46:03 EST news628789562 An increase in pockets of open water in Antarctica's sea ice (polynyas) may mean coastal plants and animals could one day establish on the continent, University of Otago-led research suggests. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-antarctica-coasts-icy.html Earth Sciences Environment Mon, 04 Mar 2024 15:00:01 EST news628764602 A research team led by Pro. Zhou Weijian from the Institute of Earth Environment of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhengzhou University and the Xi'an Institute for Innovative Earth Environment Research, has revealed a new pattern of the Holocene temperature change in arid Central Asia. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-peat-reveal-regional-pattern-holocene.html Earth Sciences Environment Mon, 04 Mar 2024 14:41:03 EST news628785661 Permafrost, or ground that is frozen for two or more years, stretches over about 14 million square kilometers in the Northern Hemisphere, 15% of the hemisphere's land area. Cold temperatures limit the decomposition of organic material, making permafrost soils a significant carbon sink. But warming temperatures from climate change are thawing permafrost and allowing microbes to decompose stored carbon. The result is a release of greenhouse gases, creating a feedback loop that further drives warming climate conditions. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-source-permafrost-role-carbon.html Earth Sciences Environment Mon, 04 Mar 2024 12:50:02 EST news628777362 The coastal ocean helps regulate climate change by acting like a giant sponge for atmospheric carbon dioxide. However, the coastal ocean is also a hot spot that releases nitrous oxide and methane, two other potent greenhouse gases. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-coastal-carbon.html Earth Sciences Environment Mon, 04 Mar 2024 12:25:16 EST news628777511 A new analysis of freshwater resources across the globe shows that the updated planetary boundary for freshwater change was surpassed by the mid-twentieth century. In other words, for the past century, humans have been pushing the Earth's freshwater system far beyond the stable conditions that prevailed before industrialization. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-analysis-global-freshwater-shifted-pre.html Earth Sciences Environment Mon, 04 Mar 2024 09:52:03 EST news628768321 Continental drift is a concept familiar to many, referencing the movement of Earth's continents due to shifting tectonic plates over millions of years, splitting one globe-spanning supercontinent into the configuration we see today. Alongside this there have been smaller land mass movements that have opened seaways, affecting ocean circulation patterns and climate. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-mantle-convection-linked-seaway-closure.html Earth Sciences Environment Mon, 04 Mar 2024 09:30:01 EST news628766254 Scientists have solved the mysterious absence of star-shaped dunes from Earth's geological history for the first time, dating one back thousands of years. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-hidden-star-sand-dune-mystery.html Earth Sciences Mon, 04 Mar 2024 08:49:09 EST news628764535 New research suggests that sunlight-blocking particles from an extreme eruption would not cool surface temperatures on Earth as severely as previously estimated. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-volcanic-super-eruptions-major-cooling.html Earth Sciences Environment Mon, 04 Mar 2024 08:47:35 EST news628764440 Big corporations could drive a worldwide shift towards more sustainable supply chains that limit damage caused by deforestation. But progress is being slowed down by weak or non-existent commitments to ensure that supply chains for commodities such as soy, palm oil, and beef have not contributed to tropical deforestation, according to an analysis recently published by the environmental organization Global Canopy. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-world-business-sectors-reverse-deforestation.html Earth Sciences Environment Sun, 03 Mar 2024 15:10:01 EST news628512203