Science Daily

Lead exposure is responsible for a range of human health impacts, with even relatively low levels impacting the cognitive development of children. Scientists have previously used atmospheric pollution records preserved in Arctic ice cores to identify periods of lead pollution throughout the Roman Empire, and now new research expands on this finding to identify how this pollution may have affected the European population.

In the Arctic, the old, multiyear ice is increasingly melting, dramatically reducing the frequency and size of pressure ridges. These ridges are created when ice floes press against each other and become stacked, and are a characteristic feature of Arctic sea ice, an obstacle for shipping, but also an essential component of the ecosystem. In a recently released study scientists report on this trend and analyze observational data from three decades of aerial surveys.

Each year, most species of bacteria in a Wisconsin lake rapidly evolved, apparently in response to dramatically changing seasons, and then evolved back.

A new study investigating ancient methane trapped in Antarctic ice suggests that global increases in wildfire activity likely occurred during periods of abrupt climate change throughout the last Ice Age.

Investigations into precipitation patterns in eastern Central Europe since the end of the last ice age have shown that dynamic processes in atmospheric circulation, such as the North Atlantic jet stream, influence regional changes in precipitation. The researchers analyzed dripstones from caves in Romania, which act as a natural climate archive that allows conclusions to be drawn about precipitation variability over a period of approximately 20,000 years.

Scientists have delivered the first measurements of Greenland Ice Sheet thickness change using data from ESA and NASA ice satellite missions. With global warming causing the Greenland Ice Sheet to melt and flow more rapidly, raising sea levels and disturbing weather patterns across our planet, precise measurements of its changing shape are of critical importance for tracking and adapting to the effects of climate warming.

Scientists have successfully identified a previously unknown species to Southern California from fossilized seeds, revealing a drought-fueled dance between two species of juniper with lessons for the region's climate future.

Scientists are changing our understanding of climate and weather on Mars and providing critical insights into Earth's atmospheric processes as well.

Fossilized skeletons and shells clearly show how evolution and extinction unfolded over the past half a billion years, but a new analysis extends the chart of life to nearly 2 billion years ago. The chart shows the relative ups and downs in species counts, telling scientists about the origin, diversification, and extinction of ancient life. With this new study, the chart of life now includes life forms from the Proterozoic Eon, 2,500 million to 539 million years ago. Proterozoic life was generally smaller and squishier -- like sea sponges that didn't develop mineral skeletons -- and left fewer traces to fossilize in the first place.

Glaciologists used sound waves to reveal Ice Age landforms buried beneath almost 1 km of mud in the North Sea. The results suggest that the landforms were produced about 1 million years ago, when an ice sheet centered over Norway extended towards the British Isles.

Stars similar to the Sun produce a gigantic outburst of radiation on average about once every hundred years per star. Such superflares release more energy than a trillion hydrogen bombs and make all previously recorded solar flares pale in comparison. This estimate is based on an inventory of 56450 sun-like stars. It shows that previous studies have significantly underestimated the eruptive potential of these stars. In data from NASA's space telescope Kepler, superflaring, sun-like stars can be found ten to a hundred times more frequently than previously assumed. The Sun, too, is likely capable of similarly violent eruptions.

Harbor seals in icy regions use icebergs shed by glaciers as safe platforms to give birth, care for young and molt. New research finds that as glaciers change with the climate, the resulting changes in size, speed and number of icebergs affect seals' critical frozen habitat. Mother seals prefer stable, slower-moving bergs for giving birth and caring for newborn pups, while in the molting season, they and the rest of the seal population favor speedier ice near the best foraging grounds.

Geoscientists have created a new climate record for early Antarctic ice ages. It reveals that the early Antarctic ice sheet melted more rapidly than previously thought.

Researchers show that the all-time record low in winter sea ice extent in 2023 can be explained by warm Southern Ocean conditions and patterns in the winds that circled Antarctica months earlier, allowing forecasts for sea ice coverage around the South Pole to be generated six or more months in advance. This could support regional and global weather and climate models.

Rising sea levels, melting glaciers, heatwaves at sea -- 2023 set a number of alarming new records. The global mean temperature also rose to nearly 1.5 degrees above the preindustrial level, another record. Seeking to identify the causes of this sudden rise has proven a challenge for researchers. After all, factoring in the effects of anthropogenic influences like the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, of the weather phenomenon El Nino, and of natural events like volcanic eruptions, can account for a major portion of the warming. But doing so still leaves a gap of roughly 0.2 degrees Celsius, which has never been satisfactorily explained. A team puts forward a possible explanation for the rise in global mean temperature: our planet has become less reflective because certain types of clouds have declined.

Many high-mountain rivers in Asia transport more sediment downstream compared to a few years ago. Changes in sediment levels have a particularly strong impact on agriculture, water quality, flood management, and hydropower generation. A study demonstrates the interacting roles of glaciers, vegetation, precipitation, and slope in mobilizing sediment and controlling the current sediment transport in rivers. In order to counteract climate change, the authors call for a systematic approach for the entire catchment area of rivers in the high mountains.

New findings have revealed that changes in ocean density have a significant impact on the rate at which marine plankton incorporate carbon into their shells. This has profound implications for carbon cycling and the ocean's ability to absorb atmospheric CO2 in response to climate change.

Scientists demonstrate how a series of extreme weather events could lead to the Arctic's first ice-free day within just a few years.

The melting of Greenland is accelerating, with an estimated loss of between 964 and 1735 gigatons of ice per year by 2100 in a scenario of high greenhouse gas emissions (SSP585), according to three regional climate models. This melting will lead to a rise in sea levels of up to one meter, threatening millions of people in coastal areas.

A study found that dust from snow- and ice-free areas of the Arctic could be an important contributor to climate change in the region. Higher levels of dust help promote the formation of ice crystals in the clouds, which weakens the efficiency of clouds to contain more liquid droplets and fewer ice crystals by Arctic warming.