Feed aggregator

The ancient Romans relied on long-distance timber trading to construct their empire, according to a new study.

Each hair-thin glass fiber in a buried fiber optic cable contains tiny internal flaws -- and that's a good thing for scientists looking for new ways to collect seismic data in places from a busy urban downtown to a remote glacier.

A survey of coral reef cores on the Great Barrier Reef has revealed how it has responded to recent periods of rapid sea-level rise. The study, covering the past 9000 years, has revealed a system in delicate balance.

The world's second-largest ice sheet, and the single largest contributor to global sea-level rise, is potentially becoming unstable because of fractures developing in response to faster ice flow and more meltwater forming on its surface.

How did life survive the most severe ice age? A team has found the first direct evidence that glacial meltwater provided a crucial lifeline to eukaryotes during Snowball Earth, when the oceans were cut off from life-giving oxygen, answering a question puzzling scientists for years.

The US spends $5 billion a year to repair damages to road infrastructure from winter snow and ice control operations and the use of traditional deicers. A team of researchers is developing a more sustainable solution using grape skins and other agricultural waste.

Antarctica is the largest reservoir of ice on Earth -- but new research suggests it could be at greater risk of melting than previously thought.

New study provides the first evidence that thinning ice shelves around Antarctica are causing more ice to move from the land into the sea.

Sharks, penguins, turtles and other seagoing species could help humans monitor the oceans by transmitting oceanographic information from electronic tags.

More than half of the climate tipping points identified a decade ago are now 'active,' a group of leading scientists have warned.

Almost 40 percent of global flora is categorized as 'exceedingly rare,' and these species are most at risk of extinction by human development and as the climate continues to change, according to new research.

Wolfe Creek Crater, one of the world's largest meteorite craters, is much younger than previously thought.

Mongolia's Tsaatan reindeer herders depend on munkh mus, or eternal ice, for their livelihoods. Now, soaring global temperatures may threaten that existence.

The importance of icebergs as an important source of nutrients in the polar regions has long been discussed. An international research team has investigated ice samples worldwide. A key result is that only a small part of the glacier ice contaminated with sediment contains large amounts of iron, while the vast majority of clean ice contains very little iron.

New study shows how changes in Antarctic sea ice is driving one of the world's smallest seabirds to forage further for food.

Scientists have been looking at pollution affecting the air, land and water around the Athabaska Oil Sands for some time. After looking at contaminants in snow taken from up-to 25 km away from the oil sands, a McGill-led scientific team now suggests that oil sand pollution is also affecting the weather patterns in the surrounding regions.

Scientists have used MODIS satellite imagery to understand long-term ocean movements from sea ice dynamics. The engineers used image-processing algorithms to remove clouds, sharpen details, and separate individual floes. Image analysis algorithms mapped the floe movement over a period of days. The resulting ocean current maps were about as accurate as maps made using traditional methods. Tracking sea ice will help scientists better understand the sources driving sea ice transport.

Location matters when talking about how climate might or might not be driving migration from Central America. Climate research in the dry corridor region revealed a complex pattern of change. If you average across the entire region you wouldn't see a trend going either way.

Equilibrium climate sensitivity -- how sensitive the Earth's climate is to changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide -- may be underestimated in individual climate models, according to a team of climate scientists.

The oldest and thickest Arctic sea ice is disappearing twice as fast as ice in the rest of the Arctic Ocean, according to new research.