Feed aggregator
Global glacier retreat has accelerated
Scientists have shown that almost all the world's glaciers are becoming thinner and losing mass - and that these changes are picking up pace. The team's analysis is the most comprehensive and accurate of its kind to date.
Seasonal water resource on the Upper Indus
Seasonally occurring fields of aufeis (icing) constitute an important resource for the water supply of the local population in the Upper Indus Basin. Geographers have now examined the spreading of aufeis and, for the first time, created a full inventory of these more than 3,700 aufeis fields. They are important for these high mountain areas between South and Central Asia, particularly with respect to hydrology and climatology.
Arctic stew: Understanding how high-latitude lakes respond to and affect climate change
To arrive at Nunavut, turn left at the Dakotas and head north. You can't miss it -- the vast tundra territory covers almost a million square miles of northern Canada. Relatively few people call this lake-scattered landscape home, but the region plays a crucial role in understanding global climate change.
Social tensions preceded disruptions in ancient Pueblo societies
Drought is often blamed for the periodic disruptions of ancient Pueblo societies of the U.S. Southwest, but in a study with potential implications for the modern world, archaeologists found evidence that slowly accumulating social tension likely played a substantial role in three dramatic upheavals in Pueblo development. The findings show that Pueblo farmers often persevered through droughts, but when social tensions were increasing, even modest droughts could spell the end of an era of development.
Climate has shifted the axis of the Earth, study finds
Melting glaciers redistributed enough water to cause the direction of polar wander to turn and accelerate eastward during the mid-1990s, according to a new study.
Fiber optic cable monitors microseismicity in Antarctica
Researchers shared how they are using fiber optic cable to detect the small earthquakes that occur in ice in Antarctica.
Mars has right ingredients for present-day microbial life beneath its surface, study finds
New research suggests that rocks in the Martian crust could produce the same kind of chemical energy that supports microbial life deep beneath Earth's surface.
Carbon dioxide-rich liquid water in ancient meteorite
Scientists detect small pockets of carbon dioxide-rich liquid water in a meteorite dating from the early solar system.
Climate 'tipping points' need not be the end of the world
The disastrous consequences of climate 'tipping points' could be averted if global warming was reversed quickly enough, new research suggests.
Solar panels are contagious - but in a good way
The number of solar panels within shortest distance from a house is the most important factor in determining the likelihood of that house having a solar panel, when compared with a host of socio-economic and demographic variables. This is shown in a new study by scientists using satellite and census data of the city of Fresno in the US, and employing machine learning.
Oceanographers reveal links between migrating Gulf Stream and warming ocean waters
The Northwest Atlantic Shelf is one of the fastest-changing regions in the global ocean, and is currently experiencing marine heat waves, altered fisheries and a surge in sea level rise along the North American east coast. A new article reveals the causes, potential predictability and historical context for these types of rapid changes.
Can extreme melt destabilize ice sheets?
Researchers have deciphered a trove of data that shows one season of extreme melt can reduce the Greenland Ice Sheet's capacity to store future meltwater - and increase the likelihood of future melt raising sea levels.
Rock glaciers will slow Himalayan ice melt
Some Himalayan glaciers are more resilient to global warming than previously predicted, new research suggests.
Ice cap study promises new prospects for accurate local climate projections
New, detailed study of the Renland Ice Cap offers the possibility of modelling other smaller ice caps and glaciers with much greater accuracy than hitherto. The study combined airborne radar data to determine the thickness of the ice cap with on-site measurements of the thickness of the ice cap and satellite data. Researchers gathered data from the ice cap in 2015, and this work has now come to fruition: More exact predictions of local climate conditions.
Modelling ancient Antarctic ice sheets helps us see future of global warming
In order to get a sense of what our future may hold, scientists have been looking to the deep past. Now, new research from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, which combines climate, ice sheet and vegetation model simulations with a suite of different climatic and geologic scenarios, opens the clearest window yet into the deep history of the Antarctic ice sheet and what our planetary future might hold.
Ocean temperature reconstructed over the last 700,000 years
Researchers have reconstructed for the first mean ocean temperatures over the last 700,000 years using ice core data. The new knowledge serves to improve our understanding of the climate system.
Snow chaos in Europe caused by melting sea-ice in the Arctic
The April snow falling on fruit blossoms in Europe these days may be directly connected to the loss of the sea ice in the Barents Sea in the Arctic. That was definitely the case in 2018 when the sudden cold spell known as 'Beast from the East' descended on the mid-latitudes of the continent, a new study shows.
Thick sea-ice warms Greenland fjords
A new study shows that thick sea-ice can increase the sensitivity of Greenlandic fjords to climate warming. Understanding the factors that control how fast glaciers move, break up and deposit chunks of ice (icebergs) into the fjords - and eventually the sea - is vital for predicting how the Greenland ice sheet will change under a warming climate and for predicting global rates of sea-level rise.
Unsettling currents: Warm water flowing beneath the 'Doomsday Glacier'
Researchers have been able to obtain data from underneath Thwaites Glacier, also known as the 'Doomsday Glacier'. They find that the supply of warm water to the glacier is larger than previously thought, triggering concerns of faster melting and accelerating ice flow.
Abrupt ice age climate changes behaved like cascading dominoes
Throughout the last ice age, the climate changed repeatedly and rapidly during so-called Dansgaard-Oeschger events, where Greenland temperatures rose between 5 and 16 degrees Celsius in decades. When certain parts of the climate system changed, other parts of the climate system followed like a series of dominos toppling in succession. Today, sea-ice extent is being rapidly reduced, and it is uncertain whether this part of the climate system can trigger sudden future climate change.
Pages
