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Relief from the current dry spell across the interior of the Middle East is unlikely within the next 10,000 years, results of a new study show, which include information during the last glacial and interglacial periods.

During the transition to the last ice age approximately 80,000 years ago global temperature declined, while the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere remained relatively stable. Scientists have now discovered that a falling sea level may have caused enhanced volcanic activity in the ocean, which can explain the anomaly.

While global ocean health has remained relatively stable over the past five years, individual countries have seen changes, according to a new study.

Iron-rich meltwater from Greenland's glaciers are helping fuel a summer bloom of phytoplankton, suggests new research.

A perfect combination of tides and wind is responsible for a hotspot of Antarctic krill along the western Antarctic Peninsula.

A new analysis of Greenland's past temperatures will help determine how fast the island's vast ice sheet is melting. Other research shows the accelerated melting of Greenland's ice sheet is contributing to sea level rise. The new study provides the most accurate estimates of Greenland's 20th century temperatures by combining the best two of previous analyses. The finding will help improve climate models so they more accurately project future global climate change and its effects.

Wind-driven incursions of warm water forced the retreat of glaciers in West Antarctica during the past 11,000 years, a new report explains. These new results enable researchers to better understand how environmental change may impact future sea-level rise from this climate-sensitive region.

A new study comparing dissolved black carbon deposition on ice and snow in ecosystems around the world (including Antarctica, the Arctic, and alpine regions of the Himalayas, Rockies, Andes, and Alps) shows that while concentrations vary widely, significant amounts can persist in both pristine and non-pristine areas of snow.

A marked decrease in summer cloud cover during the last 20 years has significantly accelerated melt from the Greenland ice sheet, a team of researchers has concluded.

Ice-free areas of Antarctica -- home to more than 99 percent of the continent's terrestrial plants and animals -- could expand by more than 17,000 km2 by the end of this century, a study reveals. The study is among the first to investigate how ice-free areas in Antarctica may be affected by climate change.

[It has been a long time since my last post. As many of you know, a lot has happened in the last two years. Most significantly, we moved from the Illinois State Museum to East Tennessee State University. I’ve wondered whether the concept of this blog still applies in our new environment. Excavations over the […]

A warming climate is not just melting the Arctic's sea ice; it is stirring the remaining ice faster, increasing the odds that ice-rafted pollution will foul a neighboring country's waters, says a new study.

Scientists have reconstructed in detail the collapse of the Eurasian ice sheet at the end of the last ice age. The big melt wreaked havoc across the European continent, driving home the original Brexit 10,000 years ago.

The expansion of grasslands isn't solely due to drought, but more complex climate factors are at work, both for modern Africans now and ancient Africans in the Pleistocene, suggests new research.

The Eastern Tennessee Seismic Zone (ETSZ), a zone of small earthquakes stretching from northeastern Alabama to southwestern Virginia, may have generated earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater within the last 25,000 years, according to a new study.

Monitoring changes to the amount of wetlands in regions where permafrost is thawing should be at the forefront of efforts to predict future rates of climate change, new research shows.

During the last glacial period, within only a few decades the influence of atmospheric CO2 on the North Atlantic circulation resulted in temperature increases of up to 10 degrees Celsius in Greenland -- as indicated by new climate calculations.

The Iberian Peninsula is undergoing climate change, with temperatures on the rise, and mountain ranges are not exempt from this trend. A team of scientists has analyzed regional climate series from the Central Pyrenees for 1910 to 2013 (the most extensive climate records to date for the area), concluding that temperatures have risen at an increasing rate since 1970, particularly in spring and summer.

There is a clear potential for practical and useful predictions of northwestern European and Arctic climate based on the state of the ocean, new research indicates.

An autonomous underwater vehicle offers promise for advanced marine research use. This will make it possible to conduct detailed studies of the seabed at great depths and track the climate thousands of years back in time, say researchers.