Science Daily

Data suggest that the recent, rapid slowdown of the Atlantic Ocean circulation is not a sign of imminent collapse, but a shift back toward a more sluggish phase. The slowdown implies that global air temperatures will increase more quickly in the coming decades.

Arctic climate change research relies on field measurements and samples that are too scarce, and patchy at best, according to a comprehensive review study. The researchers looked at thousands of scientific studies, and found that around 30% of cited studies were clustered around only two research stations in the vast Arctic region.

A new study demonstrates that a correlation also exists between cumulative carbon emissions and future sea level rise over time -- and the news isn't good.

Researchers say they may be able to estimate how glaciers moved by examining how the weight of the ice sheet altered topography and led to changes in the course of the river.

In 1991, German tourists discovered a human body that was later determined to be the oldest naturally preserved ice mummy, known as Otzi or the Iceman. Now, researchers who have conducted the first in-depth analysis of the Iceman's stomach contents offer a rare glimpse of our ancestor's ancient dietary habits. Among other things, their findings show that the Iceman's last meal was heavy on the fat.

The melting of glaciers on one side of the globe can trigger disintegration of glaciers on the other side of the globe, as has been presented by scientists, who investigated marine microalgae preserved in glacial deposits and subsequently used their findings to perform climate simulations.

The inclusion of taxon-specific sensitivity to a shifting climate helps us understand species distributional responses to changes in climate.

A new explanation for the Heinrich 1 event, where temperatures over Antarctica rose 5C in less than a century, suggests strengthening westerlies around the Antarctic led to a substantial increase in atmospheric carbon. Today, human-caused climate change is causing these same westerly winds to contract towards Antarctica and strengthen, suggesting an unexpected spike in carbon dioxide could occur again.

Scientists have discovered the oldest colors in the geological record, 1.1-billion-year-old bright pink pigments extracted from rocks deep beneath the Sahara desert in Africa.

A research team found the fingerprint of a massive flood of fresh water in the western Arctic, thought to be the cause of an ancient cold snap that began around 13,000 years ago.

A team of scientists has captured on video a four-mile iceberg breaking away from a glacier in eastern Greenland, an event that points to one of the forces behind global sea-level rise.

A new study offers an enhanced view of the origins and ultimate fate of the first dogs in the Americas. The dogs were not domesticated North American wolves, as some have speculated, but likely followed their human counterparts over a land bridge that once connected North Asia and the Americas, the study found.

Geoscientists have been intrigued by a potential link between erosion rates at the Earth's surface and changes in global climate. A new study now calls into question this link. A team of researchers re-examined 30 locations with reported accelerated erosion after the onset of glacial-interglacial cycles a few million years ago. In nearly all of the locations, the proposed link between erosion and global climate could not be confirmed.

A technical breakthrough was achieved in the source determination of very small carbon samples at the Accelerator Laboratory and the Laboratory of Chronology of the University of Helsinki. The development work is essential in climate research as it facilitates disentangling the origin of, for instance, black carbon particles.

Future global warming may eventually be twice as warm as projected by climate models under business-as-usual scenarios and even if the world meets the 2°C target sea levels may rise six meters or more, according to an international team of researchers from 17 countries.

The Baltic Sea is home to some of the world's largest dead zones, areas of oxygen-starved waters where most marine animals can't survive. But while parts of this sea have long suffered from low oxygen levels, a new study shows that oxygen loss in coastal areas over the past century is unprecedented in the last 1,500 years.

New research provides insights into the extinction of Britain's largest native carnivore. The study is the first of its kind to collate and evaluate the evidence for the brown bear in post-Ice Age Britain.

Failure to meet the United Nations' 2ºC warming limits will lead to sea level rise and dire global economic consequences, new research has warned. A study found flooding from rising sea levels could cost $14 trillion worldwide annually by 2100, if the target of holding global temperatures below 2ºC above pre-industrial levels is missed.

The first comprehensive survey of Arctic marine mammal populations' vulnerability to shipping along two main routes finds which face the most risks from heavier traffic in the region.

Greenhouse gases were the main driver of climate throughout the warmest period of the past 66 million years, providing insight into the drivers behind long-term climate change.