Phys.org Earth News

Drylands are defined as regions where rainfall is low relative to the atmosphere's ability to draw water from soil and plants. Expanding boundaries of these regions are frequent concerns in climate change considerations. While they can support large populations and ecosystems, dryland expansion can worsen water scarcity, land degradation and desertification.

Residents of Kauai were warned to watch for tornadoes late Monday as Hurricane Lowell edged toward the westernmost Hawaiian Islands in the U.S. Pacific island chain, the National Weather Service said.

Meltwater rivers flowing from Svalbard glaciers are carrying ancient methane from rocks beneath the ice into the open air, new research published in Nature Communications shows.

Wildfires ravaging the Indonesian part of Borneo are choking communities as far away as Malaysia with putrid haze, testing the resources and resolve of those who must endure it.

When you think of conservation in Australia, chances are you'll think of a national park.

Meteorologist James Stagg gave what many regard as the most important weather forecast in history in June 1944. The fate of more than 150,000 Allied troops preparing to invade the Normandy beaches on D-Day and the future of the war in Europe depended on Stagg and his forecasting teams. Get the forecast wrong and an already perilous invasion might not succeed, prolonging the war. In the briefing room at Southwick House near Portsmouth, waiting for the forecast, sat General Dwight D. Eisenhower.

A new study reveals that microbial life deep within Earth has persisted and repeatedly flourished through hundreds of millions of years of mountain-building and erosion. By analyzing minerals, fluids and gases from a 2.3-kilometer-deep (1.4-mile-deep) borehole in central Sweden, researchers have uncovered episodic bursts of methane-producing life linked to major geological events that shaped Scandinavia. The paper is published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.

The important role ships play in gathering scientific data in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean has been outlined at a leading Antarctic science conference in Hobart. The biennial Australian Antarctic Research Conference was held at the University of Tasmania and attracted 400 researchers from around the globe.

Permafrost refers to permanently frozen ground. The rock is held together by ice, much like cement binds concrete. However, when the ice thaws, the ground becomes weak and unstable. During an earthquake, this can trigger a series of natural hazards. An international research team investigated precisely such an event.

The news has been full of headlines about findings from a United Nations report: The world is set to exceed the 1.5°C global warming target set out in the 2015 Paris Agreement. The report has raised concerns and questions about what a 1.5°C increase could mean for our world.

An increase in pollution from wildfires and heat waves risks undermining international efforts to improve air quality and protect human and ecosystem health, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which traces the complex interrelationships between air quality and climate.

In a new report, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) concludes that global warming is expected to exceed 1.5°C within the next few years. This makes two questions increasingly important: how high will temperatures rise, and how long will the increase last?

A journey back in time to the Late Cretaceous: A swampy rainforest with conifers and tree ferns stretches as far as the eye can see, dinosaurs roam through the misty wetlands, and the climate is mild and warm. The average annual temperature is 12°C (54°F)—around two degrees higher than in present-day Germany. There is plenty of water, too, as dry periods are regularly followed by monsoon-like rainy seasons.

Water has always been one of California's most contested resources. For more than a century, battles have raged over how much of the state's water should be diverted to farmland, pumped into cities or used to conserve aquatic ecosystems—and at times, these clashes have even led to violence. The state's water system consists of a dizzying array of reservoirs, rivers, dams and aqueducts, making it challenging even for experts to understand the trade-offs of different management decisions.

Researchers from Flinders University have found that flushing toilets can release aerosols and bioaerosols into the surrounding air, with some studies detecting particles at heights corresponding to adults' breathing zones.

The waters of the remote Scottish island of Jura have long been famous for making whiskey. Now, the island's rivers have helped geologists learn more about how rivers erode rocks, providing new evidence that what streams carry plays an important role in how they carve through landscapes.

Over the summer, Europe provided a stark new set of images of climate change. Wildfires raced across forests and grasslands, rivers and reservoirs dried up in droughts, and extreme heat disrupted everyday life.

More than two dozen University of Victoria researchers contributed to "Canada's Changing Climate Report 2026," the country's most comprehensive assessment of how climate change is affecting communities, ecosystems and coastlines across Canada.

Toiling around the clock, haggard Indonesian firefighters on the island of Borneo cannot keep up with the blazes devouring landscapes and shrouding communities in a cloying haze.

Since scientists can't drill 2,900 km (1,800 miles) to the boundary between Earth's core and deep mantle, they must use information relayed by seismic waves recorded during earthquakes to study this region. In a new study published in the journal JGR Solid Earth, a group of scientists used deep learning to study a large set of a specific type of seismic wave. The analysis revealed six continuous bands of irregularities at the core-mantle boundary (CMB) that had previously appeared only as sparse