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Anthropogenic climate change is one of the foremost scientific and societal challenges. In part, our response to this global challenge requires an enhanced understanding of how the Earth's surface responds to episodes of climatic heating and cooling.

While investigating gas hydrate deposits in the western Black Sea, a team of scientists made surprising discoveries. Contrary to previous findings and theories, the scientists found free methane gas in layers where it should actually not appear. The authors conclude that the gas hydrate system in the deep-sea fan of the Danube continues to adapt due to climate changes since the last glacial maximum.

The permanent rise of oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere, which fundamentally changed the subsequent nature of Earth's habitability, occurred much later than thought, according to new research.

A new analysis of strontium isotopes in marine sediments has enabled scientists to reconstruct fluctuations in ocean chemistry related to changing climate conditions over the past 35 million years. The results provide new insights into the inner workings of the global carbon cycle and, in particular, the processes by which carbon is removed from the environment through the deposition of carbonates.

Scientists have succeeded in continuous monitoring of a subglacial discharge plume, providing a deeper understanding of the glacier-fjord environment.

An international team of scientists presents an analysis of sediments from a cave in northeast Greenland, that cover a time period between about 588,000 to 549,000 years ago. This interval was warmer and wetter than today, the cave deposits provide an outlook in a possible future warmer world due to climate change.

Understanding the evolution of the polar sea ice is not enough to study the effects of the climate change on marine ecosystems in Antarctic seafloors. It is also necessary to determine the intensity of phytoplankton local production during the Antarctic summer.

Geologists unexpectedly found mineral deposits in former ice caves in the Austrian Alps dating back to the peak of the last ice age. These special calcite crystals demonstrate that intensive snowfall during the second half of the year triggered a massive glacier advance leading to the climax of the last ice age.

The vast reservoir of carbon that is stored in soils probably is more sensitive to destabilization from climate change than has previously been assumed, according to a new study.

The rate of sea-level rise in the 20th century along much of the U.S. Atlantic coast was the fastest in 2,000 years, and southern New Jersey had the fastest rates, according to a new study.

Scientists publish new direct evidence that shattering drizzle droplets drive explosive 'ice multiplication' events. The findings have implications for weather forecasts, climate modeling, water supplies -- and even energy and transportation infrastructure.

Beneath the cold, dark depths of the Arctic ocean sit vast reserves of methane. These stores rest in a delicate balance, stable as a solid called methane hydrates, at very specific pressures and temperatures. If that balance gets tipped, the methane can get released into the water above and eventually make its way to the atmosphere.

Glaciers in Southeast Alaska have been melting since the end of the Little Ice Age, many of which are in close proximity to strike-slip faults. When these glaciers melt, the land begins to rise, and the faults they'd previously sutured become unclamped. In this study, scientists determine this process has influenced the timing and location of earthquakes with a magnitude of 5.0 or greater in the area during the past century.

At the heart of ice crystals, often, are aerosol particles onto which ice can form more easily than in the open air. It's a bit mysterious how this happens, though. New research shows how crystals of organic molecules, a common component of aerosols, can get the job done.

Statisticians have calculated the probability of ships of different Polar Ship Categories becoming beset in ice along the Northern Sea Route. Their data will help assess the risks of maritime traffic.

The Seismometer to Investigate Ice and Ocean Structure (SIIOS) performed well in seismic experiments conducted in snowy summer Greenland, according to a new study.

Scientists found frozen plant fossils, preserved under a mile of ice on Greenland. The discovery helps confirm a new and troubling understanding that the Greenland Ice Sheet has melted entirely during recent warm periods in Earth's history -- like the one we are now creating with human-caused climate change. The new study provides strong evidence that Greenland is more sensitive to climate change than previously understood -- and at risk of irreversibly melting.

An international research team has for the first time linked glacier-fed mountain rivers with higher rates of plant material decomposition, a major process in the global carbon cycle.

An analysis of historic and projected simulations from 19 global climate models shows that, because of climate change, the temperature in the Antarctic peninsula -- long a canary in the coal mine for the rest of the continent -- will increase by 0.5 to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2044.

New research led by the University of Cambridge has found rare evidence - preserved in the chemistry of ancient rocks from Greenland - which tells of a time when Earth was almost entirely molten.