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A new study comparing dissolved black carbon deposition on ice and snow in ecosystems around the world (including Antarctica, the Arctic, and alpine regions of the Himalayas, Rockies, Andes, and Alps) shows that while concentrations vary widely, significant amounts can persist in both pristine and non-pristine areas of snow.

A marked decrease in summer cloud cover during the last 20 years has significantly accelerated melt from the Greenland ice sheet, a team of researchers has concluded.

Ice-free areas of Antarctica -- home to more than 99 percent of the continent's terrestrial plants and animals -- could expand by more than 17,000 km2 by the end of this century, a study reveals. The study is among the first to investigate how ice-free areas in Antarctica may be affected by climate change.

[It has been a long time since my last post. As many of you know, a lot has happened in the last two years. Most significantly, we moved from the Illinois State Museum to East Tennessee State University. I’ve wondered whether the concept of this blog still applies in our new environment. Excavations over the […]

A warming climate is not just melting the Arctic's sea ice; it is stirring the remaining ice faster, increasing the odds that ice-rafted pollution will foul a neighboring country's waters, says a new study.

Scientists have reconstructed in detail the collapse of the Eurasian ice sheet at the end of the last ice age. The big melt wreaked havoc across the European continent, driving home the original Brexit 10,000 years ago.

The expansion of grasslands isn't solely due to drought, but more complex climate factors are at work, both for modern Africans now and ancient Africans in the Pleistocene, suggests new research.

The Eastern Tennessee Seismic Zone (ETSZ), a zone of small earthquakes stretching from northeastern Alabama to southwestern Virginia, may have generated earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater within the last 25,000 years, according to a new study.

Monitoring changes to the amount of wetlands in regions where permafrost is thawing should be at the forefront of efforts to predict future rates of climate change, new research shows.

During the last glacial period, within only a few decades the influence of atmospheric CO2 on the North Atlantic circulation resulted in temperature increases of up to 10 degrees Celsius in Greenland -- as indicated by new climate calculations.

The Iberian Peninsula is undergoing climate change, with temperatures on the rise, and mountain ranges are not exempt from this trend. A team of scientists has analyzed regional climate series from the Central Pyrenees for 1910 to 2013 (the most extensive climate records to date for the area), concluding that temperatures have risen at an increasing rate since 1970, particularly in spring and summer.

There is a clear potential for practical and useful predictions of northwestern European and Arctic climate based on the state of the ocean, new research indicates.

An autonomous underwater vehicle offers promise for advanced marine research use. This will make it possible to conduct detailed studies of the seabed at great depths and track the climate thousands of years back in time, say researchers.

An analysis of stalagmite records from White Moon Cave in the Santa Cruz Mountains shows that 8200 years ago the California coast underwent 150 years of exceptionally wet and stormy weather. This is the first high resolution record of how the Holocene cold snap affected the California climate.

Scientists believe they have discovered the reason behind mysterious changes to the climate that saw temperatures fluctuate by up to 15°C within just a few decades during the ice age periods.

An area of West Antarctica more than twice the size of California partially melted in 2016 when warm winds forced by an especially strong El Nino blew over the continent.

The initial phases of animal evolution proceeded faster than hitherto supposed: New analyses suggest that the first animal phyla emerged in rapid succession -- prior to the global Ice Age that set in around 700 million years ago.

An ancient otter tooth recently discovered in Mexico suggests certain mammals migrated across America during the Miocene geologic epoch, roughly 23 million to 5.3 million years ago. The new hypothesized route questions other theories such as migrations above Canada and through Panama, and has implications for a much larger biologic event -- the Great American Biotic Interchange, when land bridges were formed and animals dispersed to and from North America and South America.

To understand how human activities are affecting the planet, scientists often study the health of animals in the wild. Now a new study finds that the levels of mercury in some polar bears are declining. But rather than heralding a drop in mercury in the environment, the decrease could indicate how climate change has led the animals to shift foraging habits, which has affected their diets and weight.

The Science Team of the Canadian Research Icebreaker CCGS Amundsen has cancelled the first leg of the 2017 Expedition due to complications associated with the southward motion of hazardous Arctic sea ice, caused by climate change.