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New model simulates the tsunamis caused by iceberg calving
A team of scientists has developed a new model for simulating both iceberg calving and the tsunamis that are triggered as a result. Their method can help improve hazard assessment in coastal areas and refine the empirical calving models used to evaluate rising sea levels.
Managed retreat: A must in the war against climate change
Climate change will shape the future of coastal communities, with flood walls, elevated structures and possibly even floating cities used to combat sea level rise. New research has found that managed retreat -- moving buildings, homes or communities off of the coast or away from floodplains -- must be part of any solution.
Swim first, hunt later: Young Weddell seals need to practice navigating before hunting
Weddell seals, the southernmost born mammal, are known as champion divers. But they don't begin life that way. Researchers examined the development of diving behavior in Weddell seal pups and found that they time their dives with their mother but likely do not learn to forage at that time. Instead, they focus their early efforts on learning to swim and navigate under the sea ice.
Long-term Himalayan glacier study
The glaciers of Nanga Parbat - one of the highest mountains in the world - have been shrinking slightly but continually since the 1930s. This loss in surface area is evidenced by a long-term study. The geographers combined historical photographs, surveys, and topographical maps with current data, which allowed them to show glacial changes for this massif in the north-western Himalaya as far back as the mid-1800s.
Historical climate effects of permafrost peatland surprise researchers
Peatlands are an important ecosystem that contribute to the regulation of the atmospheric carbon cycle. A multidisciplinary group of researchers investigated the climate response of a permafrost peatland located in Russia during the past 3,000 years. Unexpectedly, the group found that a cool climate period, which resulted in the formation of permafrost in northern peatlands, had a positive, or warming, effect on the climate.
Icebergs drifting from Canada to southern Florida
Climate modelers have found evidence that massive icebergs from roughly 31,000 years ago drifted more than 5,000km (> 3,000 miles) along the eastern United States coast from Northeast Canada all the way to southern Florida.
At underwater site, research team finds 9,000-year-old stone artifacts
Underwater archaeologists have been studying 9,000-year-old stone tool artifacts discovered in Lake Huron that originated from an obsidian quarry more than 2,000 miles away in central Oregon. The obsidian flakes from the underwater archaeological site represent the oldest and farthest east confirmed specimens of western obsidian ever found in the continental United States.
Heat from below: How the ocean is wearing down the Arctic sea ice
The influx of warmer water masses from the North Atlantic into the European marginal seas plays a significant role in the marked decrease in sea-ice growth, especially in winter.
Climate conditions during the migration of Homo sapiens out of Africa reconstructed
Climate reconstruction of the last 200,000 years from East Africa illustrates the living conditions of Homo sapiens when they migrated out of Africa / Homo sapiens was mobile across regions during wet phases and retreated to high altitudes during dry phases.
Edge of Pine Island Glacier's ice shelf is ripping apart, causing key Antarctic glacier to gain speed
Pine Island Glacier's ice shelf lost about one-fifth of its total area between 2017 and 2020, in three dramatic collapses. Meanwhile the glacier sped up by 12 percent. The rest of the ice shelf, the authors say, could disappear much sooner than previous studies had suggested.
Cause, scope determined for deadly winter debris flow in Uttarakhand, India
The Uttarakhand region of India experienced a humanitarian tragedy on Feb. 7, 2021, when a wall of debris and water barreled down the Ronti Gad, Rishiganga and Dhauliganga river valleys. This debris flow destroyed two hydropower facilities and left more than 200 people dead or missing. A self-organized coalition of 53 scientists came together in the days following the disaster to investigate the cause, scope and impacts.
Indigenous mortality following Spanish colonization did not always lead to forest regrowth, study finds
New research shows that disruptions to Indigenous land management following Iberian colonization did not always result in widespread forest regrowth in the Americas and Asia-Pacific, as has been recently argued.
The rocky road to accurate sea-level predictions
The type of material present under glaciers has a big impact on how fast they slide towards the ocean. Scientists face a challenging task to acquire data of this under-ice landscape. Choosing the wrong equations for the under-ice landscape can have the same effect on the predicted contribution to sea-level rise as a warming of several degrees, according to researchers.
Arctic rotifer lives after 24,000 years in a frozen state
Bdelloid rotifers are multicellular animals so small you need a microscope to see them. Despite their size, they're known for being tough, capable of surviving through drying, freezing, starvation, and low oxygen. Now, researchers have found that not only can they withstand being frozen, but they can also persist for at least 24,000 years in the Siberian permafrost and survive.
Study of past South Asian monsoons suggests stronger monsoon rainfall in the future
New research finds that increases in monsoon rainfall over the past million years were linked with increases in atmospheric CO2 and the import of moisture from the southern hemisphere, which suggests stronger rains in the future as CO2 levels rise.
Corals tell Arabian Sea story of global warming
Coral insights into 1,000 years of seasonal changes in the Arabian Sea warn of significant impacts caused by global warming.
Scientists establish new records of Singapore's sea-level history
Climate scientists have extended the known record of Singapore's sea-level to almost 10,000 years ago, providing a more robust dataset to aid future predictions of sea-level rise.
Arctic sea ice thinning faster than expected
Sea ice thickness is inferred by measuring the height of the ice above the water, and this measurement is distorted by snow weighing the ice floe down. Scientists adjust for this using a map of snow depth in the Arctic that is decades out of date. In the new study, researchers swapped this map for the results of a new computer model designed to estimate snow depth as it varies year to year.
South Pole and East Antarctica warmer than previously thought during last ice age, two studies show
Glaciologists analyzed Antarctic ice cores to understand the continent's air temperatures during the most recent glacial period. The results help understand how the region behaves during a major climate transition.
Tipping elements can destabilize each other, leading to climate domino effects
Under global warming, tipping elements in the Earth system can destabilize each other and eventually lead to climate domino effects. The ice sheets on Greenland and West Antarctica are potential starting points for tipping cascades, a novel network analysis reveals. The Atlantic overturning circulation would then act as a transmitter, and eventually elements like the Amazon rainforest would be impacted. The consequences for people would reach from sea-level rise to biosphere degradation.
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