Science Daily

While searching through historical archives to find out more about the 15th-century climate of what is now Belgium, northern France, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, a researcher noticed something odd. Compared with other decades of the last millennium, many of the 1430s' winters and some springs were extremely cold in the Low Countries, as well as in other parts of Europe.

Large-scale forest fires started by prehistoric hunter-gatherers are probably the reason why Europe is not more densely forested, researchers report.

Prairie cordgrass, a native perennial grass used for biomass energy, is tolerant to salt, flooding, and freezing stress. A new study demonstrates the gene expression patterns responsible for freezing tolerance in prairie cordgrass. Once the genes responsible for freezing tolerance are identified in prairie cordgrass, they may be applied to other crops in the future.

As long as ecologists have studied temperate lakes, the winter has been their off-season. It's difficult, even dangerous, to look under the ice, and they figured plants, animals and algae weren't doing much in the dark and cold anyway. But an international team of 62 scientists looking at more than 100 lakes has concluded that life under the ice is vibrant, complex and surprisingly active. Their findings stand to complicate the understanding of freshwater systems just as climate change is warming lakes around the planet.

A key glacier in Antarctica is breaking apart from the inside out, suggesting that the ocean is weakening ice on the edges of the continent.

Using a new theory, a researcher shows that more freshwater in the Arctic may strengthen the Gulfstream’s extension into the polar regions – the opposite of what has generally been anticipated with future climate change.

An international team of researchers has analyzed fossils and DNA from living and recently extinct species to show that conservation sensitive Australasian marsupials are much older than previously thought.

Scientists have discovered a huge reduction in an African dust plume that led to more Saharan monsoons 11,000 years ago, suggests a new report.

The present thinning and retreat of Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica is part of a climatically forced trend that was triggered in the 1940s, new research by an international team shows.

Icebergs contribute more meltwater to Greenland's fjords than previously thought, losing up to half of their volume as they move through the narrow inlets, according to new research.

A quest to understand if and how life can endure in extreme cold -- on Earth and, perhaps one day, on Mars -- is sending researchers to Antarctica to search for, and then sequence, ancient bacteria.

Scientists studying the Chicxulub crater have shown how large asteroid impacts deform rocks in a way that may produce habitats for early life.

Declines in the Arctic sea ice are arguably the most dramatic evidence of the effects of current climate warming on ocean systems. While sea ice is perhaps the most defining feature of the habitat of Arctic whales, the relationship between them and sea ice is still largely a mystery, and there is increasing concern over how these species will adapt to climate related changes in sea ice.

In pictures, the Arctic appears pristine and timeless with its barren lands and icy landscape. In reality, the area is rapidly changing. Scientists are working to understand the chemistry behind these changes to better predict what could happen to the region in the future. A research team reports that sea salt could play a larger role in the formation of local atmospheric pollutants than previously thought.

It is very likely that 2016 will be the hottest year on record, with global temperatures even higher than the record-breaking temperatures in 2015. Preliminary data shows that 2016's global temperatures are approximately 1.2° Celsius above pre-industrial levels, according to an assessment by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

The first example of freshwater consumers using ancient methane-derived carbon has been revealed by researchers. This discovery represents the most extensive example of a methane-derived carbon contribution to a river ecosystem.

It is well-established in the scientific community that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels result in global warming, but the magnitude of the effect may vary depending on average global temperature. A new study concludes that warm climates are more sensitive to changes in CO2 levels than cold climates.

The Alps are steadily "growing" by about one to two millimeters per year. Likewise, the formerly glaciated subcontinents of North America and Scandinavia are also undergoing constant upward movement. This is due to the fact that at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), the glaciers melted and with this the former heavy pressure on the Earth's surface diminished. Now, an international team of researchers has been able to show that the loss of the LGM ice cap still accounts for 90 percent of today's uplifting of the Alps.

The World Meteorological Organization has published a detailed analysis of the global climate 2011-2015 -- the hottest five-year period on record -- and the increasingly visible human footprint on extreme weather and climate events with dangerous and costly impacts.

Measurements reveal the relationship between individual CO2 emissions and the Arctic's shrinking summer sea ice. For each ton of carbon dioxide that any person on our planet emits, three square metres of Arctic summer sea ice disappear.