Science Daily

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.

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.

Continental shifting may have acted as a natural mechanism for extreme carbon sequestration.

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.

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.'

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.

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.

The massive icefield that feeds Alaska’s Mendenhall Glacier may be gone by 2200 if warming trend predictions hold true.

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.

A new study used fossils and mercury isotopes from volcanic gas deposited in ancient proto-Pacific Ocean sediment deposits in Nevada to determine when life recovered following the end-Triassic mass extinction 201.5 million years ago.

Researchers have found that climate models are aggressively making clouds 'brighter' as the planet warms. This may be causing models to underestimate how much global warming will occur due to increasing carbon dioxide.

A new window has been opened into the climate history of the Arctic Ocean. Using unique sediment samples from the Lomonosov Ridge, the researchers found that six to 10 million years ago the central Arctic was completely ice-free during summer and sea-surface temperature reached values of 4 to 9 degrees Celsius.

Models that aim to predict human-induced global average temperature rise have been underestimating important contributions from clouds, causing projections to be lower than what actually might occur, at least in some simulations, a new study suggests.

Erosion by melt-driven streams during summers on Greenland's ice sheet during shapes landscapes similarly to, but much faster than, rivers do on land, says a geologist. The methods used to study the ice sheet should help scientists better understand melt rates and improve projections about glacial response to climate change.

Plant gasses possibly dampen the temperature rise in Greenland. Plants emit compounds to deter pests or attract pollinators, and as a side effect particles are formed when the compounds interact in the air. These particles can contribute to the formation of clouds, which reflect incoming solar radiation, and thus prevent solar heat from reaching the ground and warming it additionally.

An international research team has discovered ground-breaking new reasons why large continental ice-sheets first grew in North America and Scandinavia during the late Pliocene Epoch era, 2.7 millions of years ago.

The North Atlantic Ocean is an area of active plate tectonics. Between 80 and 35 million years ago tectonic processes moved Greenland over an area of abnormally hot mantle material that still today is responsible for the volcanic activity of Iceland. The mantle material heated and thinned Greenland at depth producing a strong geothermal anomaly that spans a quarter of the land area of Greenland. That distant history of the North Atlantic region contributes to the present-day ice loss, suggests a new report.

The energy associated with air temperature and moisture content, rather than radiant energy from the sun, was responsible for more melt during the 2012 exceptional melt episodes on the Greenland Ice Sheet, new research indicates. Using the PROMICE automatic weather station data, they found climate models underestimate the impact of exceptionally warm weather episodes on the ice sheet.

Scientists have explored the question of carbon dioxide storage in the oceans. The team glimpsed into the ocean's past, thanks to a group of tiny ocean dwellers called foraminifera.

As the Navy's Ice Exercise 2016 winds to a close this week in the frigid waters of the Arctic Ocean, officials at the Office of Naval Research today reported new scientific research that took place during the event that will enhance our understanding of, and ability to safely operate in, Arctic maritime environments.