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Climate change, extreme weather linked to high pressure over Greenland

Science Daily - Tue, 04/26/2016 - 20:54
Greenland is one of the fastest-warming regions of the world, according to climate change experts. The work has identified changes in weather systems over Greenland that have dragged unusually warm air up over the western flank of Greenland's Ice Sheet.

Carbon dioxide fertilization greening Earth, study finds

Science Daily - Tue, 04/26/2016 - 15:26
From a quarter to half of Earth's vegetated lands has shown significant greening over the last 35 years largely due to rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, according to a new study.

Ancient glass-glued walls studied for nuke waste solutions

Science Daily - Tue, 04/26/2016 - 13:47
The modern challenge of nuclear waste storage and disposal has researchers looking back at ancient materials from around the world.

Citizen scientists collected rare ice data, confirm warming since industrial revolution

Science Daily - Tue, 04/26/2016 - 10:06
In 1442, Shinto priests in Japan began keeping records of the freeze dates of a nearby lake, while in 1693 Finnish merchants started recording breakup dates on a local river. Together they create the oldest inland water ice records in human history and mark the first inklings of climate change, says new research.

Ancient marine sediments provide clues to future climate change

Science Daily - Mon, 04/25/2016 - 13:15
Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration was the major driver behind the global climatic shifts that occurred between 53 and 34 million years ago, according to new research.

Researchers discover fate of melting glacial ice in Greenland

Science Daily - Mon, 04/25/2016 - 13:15
A team of researchers has discovered the fate of much of the freshwater that pours into the surrounding oceans as the Greenland ice sheet melts every summer. They were surprised to discover that most of the meltwater found off the west coast of Greenland actually originated from ice on the east coast. Meltwater originating from the west coast of Greenland, on the other hand, is often kept pinned to the coastline by strong winds, which push it northward toward Baffin Bay.

Do fish survive in streams in winter?

Science Daily - Mon, 04/25/2016 - 08:55
Most stream-resident fish stay throughout winter despite the ice. Researchers have made this discovery by tagging trout and sculpins with transponders to follow fish migration. Fish’s general state of health is the single most important factor for surviving winter, they add.

Paperbark tree to unlock climate change

Science Daily - Fri, 04/22/2016 - 10:56
Synonymous with the Australian landscape, the paperbark tree is most recognized for its distinctive bark, but it is the leaves that have found themselves at the center of research which could provide crucial insights into climate change. The research found Melaleuca leaves preserved in ancient wetlands could be used to reconstruct past rainfall activity.

How Many Mammoths?

BackyardPaleo Blog - Thu, 04/21/2016 - 19:15
To paraphrase Larry Agenbroad, the former director of the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, SD, Mammoth taxonomy is confused, and confusing. And it has been this way for a long while. Henry Fairfield Osborn, a giant of North American vertebrate paleontology dedicated decades of his life (and that of his assistants) to the production of a […]

Volcanoes tied to shifts in Earth's climate over millions of years

Science Daily - Thu, 04/21/2016 - 14:00
A new study reveals that volcanic activity associated with the plate-tectonic movement of continents may be responsible for climatic shifts from hot to cold over tens and hundreds of millions of years throughout much of Earth's history.

The Arctic is facing a decline in sea ice that might equal the negative record of 2012

Science Daily - Thu, 04/21/2016 - 07:52
Sea ice physicists are anticipating that the sea ice cover in the Arctic Ocean this summer may shrink to the record low of 2012. The scientists made this projection after evaluating current satellite data about the thickness of the ice cover.

Accounting for volcanoes using tools of economics

Science Daily - Wed, 04/20/2016 - 10:12
Scientists can read old descriptions of eruptions and analyze ash deposits captured in polar ice, but consistently estimating the climate impact of past eruptions has been difficult. A new technique may change that.

Polar bears are swimming more as sea ice retreats, study indicates

Science Daily - Wed, 04/20/2016 - 09:43
A study undertaken by scientists to understand swimming behavior in polar bears is showing an increase in this behavior related to changes in the amount and location of summer sea ice. The pattern of long-distance swimming by polar bears in the Beaufort Sea shows the fingerprint of climate change. Swims are occurring more often, in association with sea ice melting faster and moving farther from shore in the summer.

Ancient tectonic activity was trigger for ice ages

Science Daily - Tue, 04/19/2016 - 09:41
Continental shifting may have acted as a natural mechanism for extreme carbon sequestration.

Two volcanoes trigger crises of the late antiquity

Science Daily - Tue, 04/19/2016 - 07:32
Contemporary chronicles, archaeological studies and physical evidence all point to severe climatic changes and ensuing social crises in the middle of the 6th century. New data from ice cores suggest that these events were caused by two major volcanic eruptions. An international team of scientists has reconstructed the effects using state-of-the-art climate models. As they present now the volcanic double event was likely the strongest volcanic driver of Northern Hemisphere climate over the past one and a half millennia.

Fresh look at trope about Eskimo words for snow

Science Daily - Wed, 04/13/2016 - 14:12
Researchers have taken a fresh look at words for snow, taking on an urban legend referred to by some as 'the great Eskimo vocabulary hoax.'

Satellite images reveal dramatic tropical glacier retreat

Science Daily - Wed, 04/13/2016 - 10:33
Scientists use high resolution satellite imagery to provide a decadal study of ablation of equatorial glaciers in West Papua. The images taken from the Pleaides satellites reveal that the formerly extensive Carstenz Glacier of West Papua New Guinea has almost completely disappeared, while the once continuous East North Wall Firn has split into a number of much smaller fragments.

Ice streams can be slowed down by gas hydrates

Science Daily - Wed, 04/13/2016 - 07:47
A sticky spot the size of a small island once slowed down a large ice stream. It was comprised of gas hydrates, according to a new study.

Alaska could lose massive icefield by 2200

Science Daily - Tue, 04/12/2016 - 08:15
The massive icefield that feeds Alaska’s Mendenhall Glacier may be gone by 2200 if warming trend predictions hold true.

Links within two supercontinents

Science Daily - Tue, 04/12/2016 - 08:13
A new article has apparently solved an age-old riddle of how constituent continents were arranged in two Precambrian supercontinents -- then known as Nuna-Columbia and Rodinia. It's a finding that may have future economic implications for mining companies.

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