Science Daily

A new window has been opened into the climate history of the Arctic Ocean. Using unique sediment samples from the Lomonosov Ridge, the researchers found that six to 10 million years ago the central Arctic was completely ice-free during summer and sea-surface temperature reached values of 4 to 9 degrees Celsius.

Models that aim to predict human-induced global average temperature rise have been underestimating important contributions from clouds, causing projections to be lower than what actually might occur, at least in some simulations, a new study suggests.

Erosion by melt-driven streams during summers on Greenland's ice sheet during shapes landscapes similarly to, but much faster than, rivers do on land, says a geologist. The methods used to study the ice sheet should help scientists better understand melt rates and improve projections about glacial response to climate change.

Plant gasses possibly dampen the temperature rise in Greenland. Plants emit compounds to deter pests or attract pollinators, and as a side effect particles are formed when the compounds interact in the air. These particles can contribute to the formation of clouds, which reflect incoming solar radiation, and thus prevent solar heat from reaching the ground and warming it additionally.

An international research team has discovered ground-breaking new reasons why large continental ice-sheets first grew in North America and Scandinavia during the late Pliocene Epoch era, 2.7 millions of years ago.

The North Atlantic Ocean is an area of active plate tectonics. Between 80 and 35 million years ago tectonic processes moved Greenland over an area of abnormally hot mantle material that still today is responsible for the volcanic activity of Iceland. The mantle material heated and thinned Greenland at depth producing a strong geothermal anomaly that spans a quarter of the land area of Greenland. That distant history of the North Atlantic region contributes to the present-day ice loss, suggests a new report.

The energy associated with air temperature and moisture content, rather than radiant energy from the sun, was responsible for more melt during the 2012 exceptional melt episodes on the Greenland Ice Sheet, new research indicates. Using the PROMICE automatic weather station data, they found climate models underestimate the impact of exceptionally warm weather episodes on the ice sheet.

Scientists have explored the question of carbon dioxide storage in the oceans. The team glimpsed into the ocean's past, thanks to a group of tiny ocean dwellers called foraminifera.

As the Navy's Ice Exercise 2016 winds to a close this week in the frigid waters of the Arctic Ocean, officials at the Office of Naval Research today reported new scientific research that took place during the event that will enhance our understanding of, and ability to safely operate in, Arctic maritime environments.

Global warming means much warmer winters in the Arctic, with more rain and icing. Researchers are working to understand what that will do to plants that have evolved to overwinter under a thick blanket of snow.

A new study from climate scientists suggests that the most recent estimates by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for future sea-level rise over the next 100 years could be too low by almost a factor of two.

The transition from shallow marine sediments to loess deposits at ~2.4 Ma in the northeastern Iranian Golestan Province documents a dramatic change in the early Pleistocene from a region with a humid, marine-influenced climate to a semi-arid climate.

Drumlins and megaridges are all part of a single family of landforms formed by erosion, new research concludes. Shaped like an upturned boat, drumlin hills are found clustered together in their hundreds and thousands in distinct fields called swarms. They are the most common landform across large areas of northern North America and Europe, marking the footprint of great sheets that formed during past ice ages.

Arctic sea ice appears to have reached a record low wintertime maximum extent for the second year in a row, according to scientists.

Vanishing Arctic sea ice. Dogged weather systems over Greenland. Far-flung surface ice melting on the massive island. These dramatic trends and global sea-level rise are linked, according to a new study.

More rainfall during the growing season may have led to one of the most significant changes in Earth's vegetation in the distant past, and similar climate changes could affect the distribution of plants in the future as well, a new study suggests.

Scientists have discovered that Arctic microbes are increasing the rate at which glaciers melt, in a process not accounted for in current climate change models. Working on an icecap in Svalbard, in the far north of Norway, the team showed that this process is driven by a single species of photosynthetic bacteria, from the genus Phormidesmis.

Researchers look at changes of Earth's temperature and atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) since the end of the age of the dinosaurs. Their findings suggest humans are releasing carbon about 10 times faster than during any event in the past 66 million years.

When it comes to Earth's climate, what happens in the tropical Pacific Ocean has an outsize influence. The climate state of the vast equatorial Pacific, which covers half the planet, affects weather patterns around the globe.

When Earth's first organisms were formed, it may have been in an ice cold ocean. New research indicates that both land and ocean were much colder than previously believed.