Phys.org Earth News

Greece on Thursday battled to contain a spate of wildfires, including one on the tourist island of Crete that forced thousands of residents and holidaymakers to evacuate and left three firefighters dead.

France and Spain on Thursday glimpsed a reprieve from some of the worst wildfires in living memory, which have sent hundreds of thousands of people fleeing—among them Hollywood star George Clooney and his wife, Amal.

The ocean absorbs roughly a quarter of humanity's carbon dioxide emissions each year. Understanding how that happens, and how it might change, is essential for predicting our climate's future. To do that, scientists need models that simulate not just the ocean's physical processes, such as currents and temperature, but the full web of biological and chemical processes that move carbon through the water column.

When trying to make more sustainable clothing choices, many consumers follow a simple rule: Choose natural fibers over synthetic ones. Cotton instead of polyester. Wool instead of acrylic. Linen instead of nylon.

A 113-million-year-old marine murder mystery may finally be solved. Using chemical clues locked inside microscopic fossils, Northwestern University scientists found evidence that ocean acidification drove one of the largest extinction events in the history of planktic foraminifera—tiny shell-building organisms that help regulate Earth's carbon cycle.

Sea-surface salinity, the concentration of dissolved salts in the upper layer of the ocean, is much more than a measure of how salty the sea is. It responds rapidly to changes in rainfall, evaporation, river discharge and, specifically in polar regions, the melting and formation of sea ice. Salinity is both an important driver of ocean circulation and a tracer of the movement of water masses and surface currents.

Before rain falls, the moisture that forms it may have traveled anywhere from just a few kilometers to hundreds or even thousands of kilometers away. It usually begins as water that evaporated from oceans, lakes, forests or fields. According to a paper published in Geophysical Research Letters, rain in parts of the United States is increasingly arriving from farther away.

For around 12,000 years, the Earth has been in the Holocene epoch, a warmer period following a glacial period. During this epoch, however, there have been around 22 abrupt cold phases, each lasting up to several centuries and leading to the expansion of glaciers.

New UC Berkeley-led research indicates that continued climate change could severely increase wildfire above natural levels in Yosemite, Sequoia, Kings Canyon and Lassen Volcanic national parks.

Biosphere reserves help curb deforestation in the Western Amazon and, taken together, have prevented the loss of more than 7,400 square kilometers (2,900 square miles) of forest over the last two decades compared with similar scenarios without this protection status. This is demonstrated by a study conducted by the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB), Spain, which presents the first systematic assessment of the effectiveness of Am

Everyday shower habits, such as applying shampoo or pausing the water while washing, are driving up water waste, argues a new study from the University of Surrey.

Record-breaking heat waves in May and June led to an estimated 2,877 excess deaths in England, the UK Health Security Agency said Wednesday.

A new framework to cool urban areas which integrates AI-driven technical solutions with cooling schemes that are acceptable and doable for the host community, has been proposed by QUT Urban AI Hub researchers.

Firefighters in France on Thursday were hopeful a massive forest fire was no longer spreading, as Spain said there were "almost no flames" left after a similar blaze near Madrid.

Assessing how climate change will affect different regions usually requires running a complex chain of models. While this approach provides valuable insights, it is expensive and can cover only a limited set of scenarios and model runs. Together with partners, IIASA researchers have developed a faster alternative that uses available projections from Earth system or climate impact models to generate new regional climate and impact projections while capturing the uncertainty essential for understa

In August 2023, the German research vessel METEOR set sail on Expedition M192 to the Greek island of Milos with Dr. Solveig Bühring as chief scientist. The mission was to locate and investigate previously unknown hydrothermal systems. Now, three years later, a new study highlights the surprising discoveries resulting from this expedition. At a newly discovered hydrothermal system at intermediate water depths of 100 to 250 meters (328 to 820 feet), researchers demonstrated how different intensiti

For lakes across the Northern Hemisphere, winter ice is more than a frozen surface. It is a seasonal regulator that shapes underwater ecosystems and energy balance. But as the planet warms, this frozen season is disappearing faster than expected.

A research team has, for the first time, demonstrated the crucial role that restoring transportation networks (such as roads and railways) plays in rebuilding regional economies and helping residents recover their livelihoods after a major disaster. The study was published in Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice.

Climate drives vegetation patterns across the Henan section of China's Yellow River Basin, research in the International Journal of Environmental Engineering shows. However, expanding agriculture and urbanization have a detrimental effect on plant diversity in heavily developed areas, according to the study. The findings are based on satellite observations and ecological modeling of the region.

Deploying ocean iron fertilization—a strategy for carbon dioxide capture—in higher latitudes rather than near the equator could reduce environmental impacts while still achieving removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, according to a modeling study published in Nature. The findings offer insight into best practices for maximizing carbon dioxide removal while reducing potential ecological trade-offs typically associated with iron fertilization.