Science Daily

Geologists discover a mysterious subduction zone deep beneath the Pacific Ocean, reshaping our understanding of Earth's interior.

A new study on ice cores from Alaska and Greenland found that air pollution from the burning of fossil fuels reaches the remote Arctic in amounts large enough to alter its fundamental atmospheric chemistry. The researchers unexpectedly found pollution's footprint in levels of an airborne byproduct of marine phytoplankton activity, which plummeted as soon as widespread fossil fuel usage began in the industrial era. The findings illustrate the long reach of fossil fuel emissions.

Climate change from greenhouse gas emissions could make extreme El Nino events more frequent, according to new research.

Scientists discovered that ancient reef-building stromatoporoids survived the Late Devonian extinction, contrary to previous beliefs, and continued to thrive. The findings reveal how these organisms adapted to past environmental changes, offering valuable insights into the resilience of marine ecosystems and lessons for modern conservation efforts.

A new study combines data from ancient shells with advanced climate modeling to shed light on how El Ni o weather patterns might change in a warming world.

Tree-ring data reveal that periodic shifts in strong winds high above the Earth's surface have driven opposite climates in different parts of Europe for the past 700 years and likely much longer, resulting in contrasting patterns in weather, agricultural and societal extremes.

Northeast Greenland is home to the 79 N Glacier -- the country's largest floating glacier tongue, but also one seriously threatened by global warming: warm water from the Atlantic is melting it from below. Experts have however now determined that the temperature of the water flowing into the glacier cavern declined from 2018 to 2021, even though the ocean has steadily warmed in the region over the past several decades. This could be due to temporarily changed atmospheric circulation patterns. Researchers now discuss how this affects the ocean and what it could mean for the future of Greenland's glaciers.

Researchers working in Finland propose that the unique light environment of the Earth's Polar regions creates conditions that result in circumpolar hybrid zones around the North and the South Poles. These extreme conditions increase the synchrony of reproductive phenology among species, i.e., force all species into a smaller window for reproduction. This will sustain biodiversity in the long term.

A new study offers the most detailed glimpse yet into how Earth's surface temperature has changed over the past 485 million years. The data show that Earth has been and can be warmer than today -- but humans and animals cannot adapt fast enough to keep up with human-caused climate change.

Ice may look safe for a game of pick-up hockey on the lake, but as a new study has found, looks can be deceiving. Warming winters are not only affecting ice thickness and timing -- when a lake freezes and thaws -- but also quality, making it potentially unstable and unsafe. The problem, say researchers, is that the unpredictable and warmer winter weather is creating thinner layers of black ice and sometimes a corresponding thicker layer of white ice, the unstable kind. The two combined can make for treacherous conditions.

Rising temperatures are thought to reduce the number of ice crystals in clouds, leading to the formation of liquid-dominated clouds. However, a new study has found that Arctic warming is causing an increase in the emission of natural aerosols from snow/ice-free barren and vegetated areas in the Arctic. These aerosols can encourage ice crystal formation in mixed-phase clouds, potentially affecting cloud composition and the Arctic climate.

Some of the most dramatic climatic events in our planet's history are 'Snowball Earth' events that happened hundreds of millions of years ago, when almost the entire planet was encased in ice up to 0.6 miles thick. New research provides a more complete picture for how the last Snowball Earth event ended, and suggests why it preceded a dramatic expansion of life on Earth, including the emergence of the first animals.

Pollen not only plays a role in allergies, but also influences the local weather. Especially in spring, when large amounts are released, it contributes to the formation of ice in clouds, which can increase rainfall.

Extremely clean air on the ground, warm air intrusions and sulphate aerosol at high altitudes -- a research project has gained new insights into clouds in Antarctica.

A newly discovered mechanism for the flow and freezing of ice sheet meltwater could improve estimates of sea level rise around the globe. Researchers have found a new mechanism that explains the process of how impermeable horizontal ice layers are formed below the surface, a process critical for determining the contribution of ice sheet meltwater to sea level rise.

A new study by more than 50 climate scientists worldwide provides the clearest projection that Antarctica's ice sheet will retreat rapidly after 2100 under current carbon emissions, with global sea levels rising by as much as 5.5 feet by 2200. The study combined 16 climate models and found that ice loss will gradually increase through this century until the ice sheet becomes highly unstable, possibly experiencing a near-total collapse by 2300.

Bacteria use their internal 24-hour clocks to anticipate the arrival of new seasons, according to research carried out with the assistance of an 'ice bucket challenge.'

An atmospheric river brought warm, moist air to the coldest and driest corner of the planet in 2022, pushing temperatures 70 degrees above average. A new study reveals what happened to Antarctica's smallest animals.

Researchers have developed a model that captures the dynamics of human dispersal across the continent during the last Ice Age in unprecedented detail.

Photosynthesis can take place in nature even at extremely low light levels. This is the result of a study that investigated the development of Arctic microalgae at the end of the polar night. The study shows that photosynthesis in the ocean is possible under much lower light conditions, and can therefore take place at much greater depths, than previously assumed.