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Dust released by an active coal mine in Svalbard, Norway, reduced the spectral reflectance of nearby snow and ice by up to 84 percent, according to new research.

A group of researchers suggest that the best way to understand the creation of the glaciers in Antarctica is by linking two competing theories about their origins. They argue that the deepening of the Drake Passage changed patterns of ocean circulation which in turn resulted in a drop in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to a threshold that allowed glaciation to take place.

Researchers may be one step closer to solving the mystery at the core of the Earth. It has long been established that approximately 85 percent of the Earth's core is made of iron, while nickel makes up an additional 10 percent. Details of the final 5 percent - believed to be some amount of light elements - has, until now, eluded scientists.

Scientists have confirmed the existence of a 'lost continent' under the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius that was left-over by the break-up of the supercontinent, Gondwana, which started about 200 million years ago.

Scientists report on dramatic environmental changes that occurred as Native Americans flourished and then vanished from the Midwestern United States before Europeans arrived. The researchers theorize that catastrophic climate change they observed, which doomed food production, was a primary cause of the disappearance.

An international team of researchers has discovered why fresh water, melted from Antarctic ice sheets, is often detected below the surface of the ocean, rather than rising to the top above denser seawater.

An international team of researchers has managed to pinpoint, to within three months, a medieval volcanic eruption in east Asia the precise date of which has puzzled historians for decades. They have also shown that the so-called "Millennium eruption" of Changbaishan volcano, one of the largest in history, cannot have brought about the downfall of an important 10th century kingdom, as was previously thought.

By reconstructing past temperature change on Mount Kenya in East Africa, a new study suggests that future temperature changes on tropical mountains might be underestimated.

A new article explores how an ancient culture dealt with variable environments.

During the last Ice Age, Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea formed a single landmass, called Sahul. It was a strange and often hostile place populated by a bizarre cast of giant animals.

New research shows how sea ice growth in the Southern Hemisphere during certain orbital periods could control the pace of ice ages on Earth.

In the cold depths along the sea floor, Antarctic Bottom Waters are part of a global circulatory system, supplying oxygen-, carbon- and nutrient-rich waters to the world's oceans. Over the last decade, scientists have been monitoring changes in these waters. But a new study suggests these changes are themselves shifting in unexpected ways, with potentially significant consequences for the ocean and climate.

Scientists seeking an oceanic counterpart to tree rings that record past weather on land found one in Dry Tortugas National Park, where corals contain chemical signals of past water temperatures. Researchers found coral core evidence that the 60- to 85-year-long cycle called the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) has taken place since the 1730s, influencing mainland rainfall, droughts, hurricanes and Gulf Stream flows.

A team of researchers, including a mathematician, has determined how Arctic melt ponds form, solving a paradoxical mystery of how a pool of water actually sits atop highly porous ice.

Sea-surface temperatures during the last interglaciation period were like those of today, a new study reports. The trend is worrisome, as sea levels during the last interglacial period were between six and nine meters above their present height.

Sea level in the Northeast and in some other US regions will rise significantly faster than the global average, according to a new report. In a worst-case scenario, global sea level could rise by about 8 feet by 2100, according to the report, which lays out six scenarios intended to inform national and regional planning.

One of Alaska’s most abundant freshwater fish species is altering its breeding patterns in response to climate change, which could impact the ecology of northern lakes that already acutely feel the effects of a changing climate, research suggests.

Rainfall patterns in the Sahara during the 6,000-year 'Green Sahara' period have been pinpointed by analyzing marine sediments. From 5,000 to 11,000 years ago, what is now the Sahara Desert had ten times the rainfall it does today and was home to hunter-gatherers who lived in the region's savannahs and wooded grasslands. The new research is the first to compile a continuous record of the region's rainfall going 25,000 years into the past.

Glaciologists have uncovered large valleys in the ocean floor beneath some of the massive glaciers flowing into the Amundsen Sea in West Antarctica. Carved by earlier advances of ice during colder periods, the troughs enable warm, salty water to reach the undersides of glaciers, fueling their increasingly rapid retreat.

A new model reconstruction shows in exceptional detail the evolution of the Eurasian ice sheet during the last ice age. This can help scientists understand how climate and ocean warming can affect the remaining ice masses on Earth.