Science Daily

July 2021 was the world's hottest month ever recorded, according to new global data released by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information.

Global warming begets more, extreme warming, new paleoclimate study finds. Researchers observe a 'warming bias' over the past 66 million years that may return if ice sheets disappear.

In estimations of ocean heat content -- important when assessing and predicting the effects of climate change -- calculations have often presented the rate of warming as a gradual rise from the mid-20th century to today. However, new research could overturn that assumption, suggesting the ocean maintained a relatively steady temperature throughout most of the 20th century, before embarking on a steep rise. The newly discovered dynamics may have significant implications for what we might expect in the future.

A new study finds that researchers examining signs of past sea levels along various coasts may have failed to accurately correct for long-term ups and downs of the land itself.

Scientists are observing changes in the Earth's climate in every region and across the whole climate system, according to the latest IPCC Report. Many of the changes observed in the climate are unprecedented in thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of years, and some of the changes already set in motion -- such as continued sea level rise -- are irreversible over hundreds to thousands of years.

There is enough water on our planet, but by far the largest part is salt water that is unsuitable as drinking water. Therefore, especially in dry regions of the earth, the search for new freshwater resources is very active. An international team of researchers has now discovered strong evidence of a groundwater deposit off the coast of Malta.

A major Atlantic ocean current -- the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC -- may have been losing stability in the course of the last century, according to new research. A potential collapse of this ocean current system could have severe consequences.

A new study provides valuable new data that highlights how species extinction risk is accelerating due to rapid climate change and an increase in extreme climate events, such as glacial calving and sea ice loss.

Researchers have found that the extinction at the end of the Permian period coincided with a sudden spike and subsequent drop in the ocean's oxygen content.

The rise and fall of sea levels influence the likelihood of volcanic eruptions on the Greek island of Santorini, new research has discovered. Analyzing the timings of eruptions over hundreds of thousands of years, the researchers found that a 40 meter fall in sea level is a crucial point beyond which eruptions are more likely to occur. The findings could have implications for millions of people living on volcanic islands around the world.

Glaciers and ice caps in two archipelagos in the Russian Arctic are losing enough meltwater to fill nearly five million Olympic-size swimming pools each year, research shows.

New research demonstrates that a decline in the concentration of atmospheric CO2 played a major role in driving Earth's climate from a warm greenhouse into a cold icehouse world around 34 million years ago. This transition could be partly reversed in the next centuries due to the anthropogenic rise in CO2.

A new study tackles one of the oldest questions in the history of the planet: How did living organisms get so big?

Of all the creatures on Earth, humans manipulate their environments the most. But, how far can we push it before something drastic happens? Scientists are calling for a better understanding of past extreme climate change events in an attempt to anticipate future changes.

The advent of agriculture was a significant turning point in the history of modern humans, beyond which humans started living a sedentary life and formed a so-called 'civilization.' However, the environmental factors responsible for this revolutionary change in human lifestyle have been unclear for quite long. A new study on finely layered mud at the bottom of a lake in Japan reveals that the answer to this puzzle lies in the stability of the climate.

Sunlight in, reflected and emitted energy out. That's the fundamental energy balance sheet for our planet -- and for decades, it has been out of balance. The extra energy manifests as higher temperatures, rising sea levels, floods, droughts, more powerful blizzards and hurricanes, and deadlier extreme events. Not only is the imbalance growing, but there's a 99% chance that the growth is due to human activity, calculated a team of researchers.

Scientists who study glacier ice have found viruses nearly 15,000 years old in two ice samples taken from the Tibetan Plateau in China. Most of those viruses, which survived because they had remained frozen, are unlike any viruses that have been cataloged to date.

Anthropologists, geographers and earth scientists look to the past to assess how different cultures have - and will - adapt to global warming.

The economic and environmental pros and cons of melting Arctic ice creating shorter shipping routes through the polar region are weighed up in ground-breaking research from experts in energy and transport. They conclude that policy makers must properly assess the environmental trade-offs and costs in addition to the commercial benefits and opportunities in Arctic shipping. The authors also want to see more incentives to drive technological developments that will accelerate the uptake of green fuels and technologies.

A new method for seeing through ice sheets using radio signals from the sun could enable cheap, low-power and widespread monitoring of ice sheet evolution and contribution to sea-level rise.