Science Daily

The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, or PETM, was a short interval of highly elevated global temperatures 56 million years ago that is frequently described as the best ancient analog for present-day climate warming.

New research shows that concentrations of the toxic element mercury in rivers and fjords connected to the Greenland Ice Sheet are comparable to rivers in industrial China, an unexpected finding that is raising questions about the effects of glacial melting in an area that is a major exporter of seafood. 

A global survey of fossil pollen has discovered that the planet's vegetation is changing at least as quickly today as it did when the last ice sheets retreated around 10,000 years ago.

Researchers have detected groundwater beneath a glacier in Greenland for the first time using airborne radar data. If applicable to other glaciers and ice sheets, the technique could allow for more accurate predictions of future sea-level rise.

The work is a global assessment of Earth's 92,033 debris-covered glaciers and shows that debris, taken as a whole, substantially reduces glacier mass loss.

Normally, mountain forests are among the most diverse habitats in alpine regions. Yet, as a team discovered in the Tibetan Plateau, the higher, treeless areas are home to far more species.

How can we determine how empty or full the soil reservoir is in areas that are difficult to access? Researchers have now demonstrated an elegant method to track groundwater dynamics in high mountains: They use seismic waves.

Fossils of land animals from South America have been found in the Antilles, but how did these animals get there? According to scientists from the CNRS, l'Université des Antilles, l'Université de Montpellier and d'Université Côte d'Azur, land emerged in this region and then disappeared beneath the waves for millions of years, explaining how some species were able to migrate to the Antilles. This study will be published in June 2021 issue in Earth-Science Reviews.

A reduction in the amount of fresh, light-colored snow in parts of Greenland is exposing older, darker snow. The research reports on new weather patterns and explains how the changing shape of snowflakes on the surface is leading to conditions on Greenland's ice sheet, including possibly increased melting.

Scientists have used species survey and climate data to identify two marine biodiversity refugia in the Eastern Bering Sea - regions where species richness, community stability and climate stability are high.

New research assesses just how global food production will be affected if greenhouse gas emissions are left uncut.

Scientists exploring the drivers of Antarctic climate change have discovered a new and more efficient pathway for the creation of natural aerosols and clouds which contribute significantly to temperature increases.

The Antarctic ice sheet was even more unstable in the past than previously thought, and at times possibly came close to collapse, new research suggests.

Researchers show that prior studies have underestimated the cooling in the last glacial period, which has low-balled estimates of the Earth's climate sensitivity to greenhouse gases. The rather high climate sensitivity is not good news regarding future global warming, which may be stronger than expected using previous best estimates.

Geochemical evidence reveals that armies in the Battles of Himera were a mixture of locals and outsiders, according to a new study. These data contradict certain claims made in historical accounts by ancient Greek writers.

Researchers found that a broader diversity of plants in the Arctic 40,000 years ago supported both more -- and more diverse -- big animals like horses, bison and ground sloths. The research could inform conservation of wood bison in Alaska.

The study uses leaf wax chemicals in the deposits to learn about ancient climate in southern Greenland, focusing on summer temperature during periods of relative warmth on Earth, called interglacials, over the past 600,000 years.

A research team has revealed the dramatic increase in flood risk that could occur across Earth's icy Third Pole in response to ongoing climate change. Focusing on the threat from new lakes forming in front of rapidly retreating glaciers, a team demonstrated that the related flood risk to communities and their infrastructure could almost triple. Important new hotspots of risk will emerge, including within politically sensitive transboundary regions of the Himalaya and Pamir.

A massive collaborative research project offers projections to the year 2100 of future sea-level rise from all sources of land ice, offering the most complete projections created to date.

Sea ice cover in the Southern Hemisphere is extremely variable, from summer to winter and from millennium to millennium, according to a new study. Overall, sea ice has been on the rise for about 10,000 years, but with some exceptions to this trend. Researchers uncovered these findings by examining the chemistry of a 54,000-year-old South Pole ice core.