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Melting glaciers may produce thousands of kilometers of new Pacific salmon habitat

Science Daily - Tue, 12/07/2021 - 14:26
Retreating glaciers in the Pacific mountains of western North America could produce around 6,150 kilometers of new Pacific salmon habitat by the year 2100, according to a new study.

Denisovans or Homo sapiens: Who were the first to settle (permanently) on the Tibetan Plateau?

Science Daily - Tue, 12/07/2021 - 14:25
A new paper by archaeologists at the University of California, Davis, highlights that our extinct cousins, the Denisovans, reached the "roof of the world" about 160,000 years ago -- 120,000 years earlier than previous estimates for our species -- and even contributed to our adaptation to high altitude.

How does the climate crisis affect the Antarctic fur seal?

Science Daily - Thu, 12/02/2021 - 10:34
The climate crisis is limiting the availability of krill -- small crustaceans that are vital in the marine food chain -- during summer in some areas of the Antarctica. This involves a decrease in the food abundance for female Antarctic fur seals in summer and a decrease in their reproductive success. Moreover, the predation of pups by the leopard seal has also increased due to a lower abundance of penguins, the main prey of this voracious Antarctic predator. However, the impact of the climate crisis on the Antarctic fur seal in winter has been ignored to date, when the cold, wind and ice make it harder to study the Antarctic ecosystems.

Volcanic fertilization of the oceans drove severe mass extinction

Science Daily - Thu, 12/02/2021 - 10:32
Scientists have discovered that two intense spells of volcanic activity triggered a period of global cooling and falling oxygen levels in the oceans, which caused one of the most severe mass extinctions in Earth history - the 'Late Ordovician Mass Extinction', 450 million years ago.

When variations in Earth's orbit drive biological evolution

Science Daily - Wed, 12/01/2021 - 10:19
Coccolithophores are microscopic algae that form tiny limestone plates, called coccoliths, around their single cells. They are responsible for half of the limestone produced in the oceans and therefore play a major role in the carbon cycle and in determining ocean chemistry. A team of scientists show that certain variations in Earth's orbit have influenced the evolution of coccolithophores.

Arctic Ocean started getting warmer decades earlier than we thought

Science Daily - Wed, 11/24/2021 - 14:38
The Arctic Ocean has been getting warmer since the beginning of the 20th century -- decades earlier than records suggest -- due to warmer water flowing into the delicate polar ecosystem from the Atlantic Ocean.

Tectonic shift in Southern Ocean caused dramatic ancient cooling event

Science Daily - Tue, 11/23/2021 - 15:27
New research has shed light on a sudden cooling event 34 million years ago, which contributed to formation of the Antarctic ice sheets.

Antarctic ice-sheet destabilized within a decade

Science Daily - Thu, 11/18/2021 - 19:37
After the natural warming that followed the last Ice Age, there were repeated periods when masses of icebergs broke off from Antarctica into the Southern Ocean. A new data-model study now shows that it took only a decade to initiate this tipping point in the climate system, and that ice mass loss then continued for many centuries.

Stalagmites as key witnesses of the monsoon

Science Daily - Thu, 11/18/2021 - 19:36
Researchers have now reconstructed how the Indian summer monsoon responded to meltwater pulses into the North Atlantic at the end of the penultimate cold period.

Climate changed abruptly at tipping points in past

Science Daily - Tue, 11/16/2021 - 10:14
Climate scientists identify abrupt transitions in climate records that may have been caused by the climate system crossing a tipping point. They devised a statistical method to determine whether these transitions are simply noise or evidence of a more significant change. Their method is less error-prone than previous methods, since it doesn't rely on human determination. It also allows comparing different records consistently and can identify important events that may have been overlooked in older studies.

Researchers find repeated link between volcanic eruptions and dynastic collapse in China's Imperial Era

Science Daily - Thu, 11/11/2021 - 20:46
Volcanic eruptions may have triggered abrupt climate changes contributing to the repeated collapse of Chinese dynasties over the past 2,000 years, according to new research. The study also illustrates how volcanic eruptions can profoundly impact vulnerable or unstable regions and highlights the need to prepare for future eruptions.

Volcanic eruptions contributed to collapse of China dynasties

Science Daily - Thu, 11/11/2021 - 12:03
Volcanic eruptions contributed to the collapse of dynasties in China in the last 2,000 years by temporarily cooling the climate and affecting agriculture, according to a new study. Large eruptions create a cloud that blocks some sunlight for a year or two. That reduces warming of the land in Asia in the summer and leads to a weaker monsoon and less rainfall, reducing crop harvests.

Humans hastened the extinction of the woolly mammoth

Science Daily - Thu, 11/11/2021 - 12:03
New research shows that humans had a significant role in the extinction of woolly mammoths in Eurasia, occurring thousands of years later than previously thought. An international team of scientists has revealed a 20,000-year pathway to extinction for the woolly mammoth.

Global temperatures over last 24,000 years show today's warming 'unprecedented'

Science Daily - Wed, 11/10/2021 - 12:16
An effort to reconstruct Earth's climate since the last ice age, about 24,000 years ago, highlights the main drivers of climate change and how far out of bounds human activity has pushed the climate system.

Why did glacial cycles intensify a million years ago?

Science Daily - Mon, 11/08/2021 - 15:14
A study says the Mid-Pleistocene Transition may have been linked to previous erosion of continental soils that subsequently allowed glaciers to stick to the underlying hard bedrock more efficiently.

Save the planet (and your health) by steering clear of sweets and pastries

Science Daily - Fri, 11/05/2021 - 09:38
Need another reason to cut back on sugary foods and drinks, apart from an expanding waistline? They're not helping the environment, contributing to a higher cropland, water scarcity and ecological footprint, according to a new review.

Black carbon aerosols heating Arctic: Large contribution from mid-latitude biomass burning

Science Daily - Thu, 11/04/2021 - 13:01
Researchers have revealed that the year-to-year spring variation in Arctic black carbon aerosol abundance is strongly correlated with biomass burning in the mid-latitudes. Moreover, current models underestimate the contribution of BC from biomass burning by a factor of three.

1,000 years of glacial ice reveal 'prosperity and peril' in Europe

Science Daily - Wed, 11/03/2021 - 13:01
Europe's past prosperity and failure, driven by climate changes, has been revealed using thousand-year-old pollen, spores and charcoal particles fossilized in glacial ice. This first analysis of microfossils preserved in European glaciers unveils earlier-than-expected evidence of air pollution and the roots of modern invasive species problems.

Is ski tourism heading downhill due to climate change?

Science Daily - Mon, 11/01/2021 - 09:49
Is ski tourism on a downward slope or can winter holiday resorts weather the ongoing impact of climate change? Researchers investigated the impacts of melting snow and ice on the future of tourism.

Increased frequency of extreme ice melting in Greenland raises global flood risk

Science Daily - Mon, 11/01/2021 - 08:48
Global warming has caused extreme ice melting events in Greenland to become more frequent and more intense over the past 40 years according to new research, raising sea levels and flood risk worldwide.

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