https://phys.org/earth-news/earth-sciences en-us The latest news on earth sciences and the environment As firefighters battle a massive wildfire that continues to grow in the eastern Mojave Desert, national park officials and ecologists are preparing for habitat losses that are likely to alter the landscape forever. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-joshua-trees-massive-wildfire-threatens.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 02 Aug 2023 12:50:01 EDT news610198956 Loss of forest cover is associated with more frequent extreme flooding, as well as more frequent floods of any size, according to new UBC research. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-clearcut-frequent-extreme.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 02 Aug 2023 12:40:45 EDT news610198841 Sea salt hides a secret: tiny droplets of the seawater from which it came, preserving geologic history. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-seawater-ancient-world.html Earth Sciences Wed, 02 Aug 2023 12:40:30 EDT news610198824 Dunes, the mounds of sand formed by the wind that vary from ripples on the beach to towering behemoths in the desert, are incarnations of surface processes, climate change, and the surrounding atmosphere. For decades, scientists have puzzled over why they form different patterns. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-dune-patterns-reveal-environmental-earth.html Earth Sciences Wed, 02 Aug 2023 11:39:11 EDT news610195128 In California, thousands of miles of fiber optic cables crisscross the state, providing people with internet. But these underground cables can also have a surprising secondary function: they can sense and measure earthquakes. In a new study at Caltech, scientists report using a section of fiber optic cable to measure intricate details of a magnitude 6 earthquake, pinpointing the time and location of four individual asperities, the "stuck" areas of the fault, that led to the rupture. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-fiber-optic-cables-characterize-earthquakes.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 02 Aug 2023 11:23:15 EDT news610194191 A new study led by Dr. Zengchao Hao (College of Water Sciences, Beijing Normal University) and Dr. Yang Chen (Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences) documents the unfolding process, reason and impact of compounding and cascading among multiple weather and climate extremes during the course of summer 2022 across the Sichuan Chongqing region. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-sichuan-chongqing-spatio-temporally-compound-extremes-bitter.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 02 Aug 2023 11:10:48 EDT news610193446 A team of scientists from St Petersburg University, in collaboration with their colleagues from the Scientific-Research Centre "Planeta" and the Keldysh Research Centre, has developed a neural network algorithm for measuring the ozone content in the atmosphere, using data from a Russian meteorological satellite. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-physicists-technology-total-ozone-columns.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 02 Aug 2023 10:46:11 EDT news610191968 The first-ever study to look at drivers of both marine heatwaves and cold spells in the shallow nearshore along the California Current—coordinated by California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, William & Mary—found that certain environmental conditions and the state of the ocean can lead to an enhanced risk for ocean temperature extremes. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-nearshore-california-marine-heatwaves-cold.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 02 Aug 2023 10:24:49 EDT news610190683 Physicists at St Petersburg University have studied planetary waves and discovered that they can generate disturbances in the stratosphere causing extreme warming and cooling in the Arctic and mid-latitudes. Numerical modeling of global atmospheric circulation was carried out by researchers at the Ozone Layer and the Upper Atmosphere Research Laboratory at St Petersburg University. Their paper is published in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-scientists-planetary-affect-atmospheric-dynamics.html Earth Sciences Wed, 02 Aug 2023 10:22:52 EDT news610190517 A team of microbiologists and Earth scientists affiliated with several institutions in Germany reports that it was possible for methane to form in water on Earth before life began. In their study, reported in the journal Nature Communications, the group conducted experiments with early Earth simulations designed to show how methane could have formed. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-methane-formation-early-earth.html Earth Sciences Wed, 02 Aug 2023 09:30:01 EDT news610182262 Greenland's ice sheet has been melting at an accelerated rate over recent decades, which may have resulted in a 1.4 mm/year rise in sea level. It has three glaciers with a floating tongue (floating ice attached to a glacier emerging into the sea) remaining, with Nioghalvfjerdsbrae (located at 79 degrees latitude north so colloquially termed 79NG) being the focus of a new study reported in The Cryosphere regarding the effects of climate change on its decline. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-greenland-largest-glacial-ice-declined.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 02 Aug 2023 09:20:02 EDT news610182555 On 11 November 2019, a surface-rupturing earthquake occurred at a very shallow depth (about 1 km) near Montélimar city, along the Rhône Valley in southeast France. The earthquake caused significant damage in the villages of Le Teil and Saint-Thomé, with the partial collapse of hundreds of old houses built with ancient stones and damage to sites of historical and religious heritage. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-evidence-rainfall-triggered-seismicity-intraplate-domain.html Earth Sciences Wed, 02 Aug 2023 07:48:31 EDT news610181304 If you live near the coast, wildfire season starts with Southern California's notorious Santa Ana winds, which usually arrive in the fall. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-windy-wildfires-california.html Earth Sciences Environment Tue, 01 Aug 2023 16:27:03 EDT news610126021 Earth's oldest craters could give scientists critical information about the structure of the early Earth and the composition of bodies in the solar system as well as help to interpret crater records on other planets. But geologists can't find them, and they might never be able to, according to a new study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-earth-ancient-impact-craters.html Earth Sciences Tue, 01 Aug 2023 16:06:03 EDT news610124761 Carbon dioxide levels in Earth's atmosphere—and, consequently, ocean temperatures—are rising. How high and how fast ocean temperatures can rise can be learned from temperature measurements of ancient oceans. At the same time, energy exploration also relies on knowing the thermal history of oil and gas source rocks, which is often difficult to determine. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-quest-accurately-ancient-ocean-temperatures.html Earth Sciences Environment Tue, 01 Aug 2023 16:04:04 EDT news610124642 A wildfire blazing along the Southern California-Nevada border, burning through delicate Joshua Tree forests, continued to swell Monday—becoming the state's largest of the fire season. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-york-mojave-california-nevada-border-balloons.html Earth Sciences Environment Tue, 01 Aug 2023 14:49:03 EDT news610120142 If you've been out and about the past few days, you may have noticed Australia is experiencing an unseasonably warm winter. It's been t-shirt weather across many parts of the country's east, including Sydney where temperatures topped 25℃ on Sunday. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-australia-winter-climate-expert.html Earth Sciences Environment Tue, 01 Aug 2023 12:59:04 EDT news610113541 Deadly heatwaves, raging wildfires and record global temperatures are upon us. But far from the flames, at the southernmost tip of the planet, something just as shocking is unfolding. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-antarctica-chunk-sea-ice-bigger.html Earth Sciences Environment Tue, 01 Aug 2023 12:34:32 EDT news610112069 A patch of ocean in the North Atlantic is stubbornly cooling while much of the planet warms. This anomaly—dubbed the "cold blob"—has been linked to changes in ocean circulation, but a new study found changes in large-scale atmospheric patterns may play an equally important role, according to an international research team led by Penn State. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-north-atlantic-oscillation-contributes-cold.html Earth Sciences Environment Tue, 01 Aug 2023 12:12:04 EDT news610110721 Geologists have long thought that meandering rivers, with their gently swooping banks, are a geologically recent feature. According to the rock record, these rivers began proliferating around 450 million years ago in the Silurian period, coinciding with the spread of plants on land. The prevailing idea was that plants would have stabilized riverbanks, leading water to flow in concentrated, meandering channels rather than forming chaotic braided river systems in loose sediments. https://phys.org/news/2023-08-mud-meandering-rivers.html Earth Sciences Tue, 01 Aug 2023 12:01:03 EDT news610110061 Wildfires have shaped the environment for millennia, but they are increasing in frequency, range and intensity in response to a hotter climate. The phenomenon is being incorporated into high-resolution simulations of the Earth's climate by scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, with a mission to better understand and predict environmental change. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-wildfire-earth-scale-climate.html Earth Sciences Environment Mon, 31 Jul 2023 16:36:05 EDT news610040161 Catastrophic dynamic rock failure, commonly known as rock or coal burst, presents one of the most challenging problems in civil tunneling and mining. This phenomenon is typically triggered by a volatile and uncontrolled energy release from within an overstressed rock mass or coal seam during the mining process. While coal bursts occur as a result of intricate interactions among numerous factors, a major aspect of the burst mechanism is closely tied to the processes of energy storage and subsequent release. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-quantifying-coal-energy-based-approach-geological.html Earth Sciences Mon, 31 Jul 2023 15:53:02 EDT news610037581 Lakes worldwide are grappling with the effects of eutrophication, such as algal blooms, primarily due to excessive nitrogen and phosphorus. The detrimental environmental effects of anthropogenic activities and climate change further aggravate the situation, thereby necessitating improved and effective measures. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-optimization-strategy-boosts-quality-decreases.html Earth Sciences Environment Mon, 31 Jul 2023 15:36:03 EDT news610036561 Researchers from the University of Tokyo and Stanford University show what differentiates slow and fast earthquakes and how their magnitudes vary with time. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-distinguish-fast-earthquakes.html Earth Sciences Mon, 31 Jul 2023 15:00:01 EDT news610020309 The Colorado River this spring ran high, fast and so full of sediment pushed downstream from wildfire burn scars that the water treatment plant in Hot Sulphur Springs couldn't keep up. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-wildfires-threatening-colorado-suppliesand-lot.html Earth Sciences Environment Mon, 31 Jul 2023 14:23:05 EDT news610032181 A research study led by the University of Aberdeen has identified areas of a North Sea gas 'super basin' with the greatest potential for storing industrial carbon emissions, a key aim of the energy transition. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-highlights-carbon-capture-storage-potential.html Earth Sciences Environment Mon, 31 Jul 2023 14:03:03 EDT news610030981 An international research collaboration (EGRIP) headed by ice core scientists from the University of Copenhagen has attained their goal of drilling to the bottom of the ice sheet. It marks the first time that this has been achieved in an ice stream, where vast amounts of ice slide coastwards. The breakthrough could be critical for understanding and projecting rising sea levels. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-pay-dirt-ice-core-scientists.html Earth Sciences Environment Mon, 31 Jul 2023 13:00:05 EDT news610027202 The Amazon River is the largest river in the world. It discharges about one fifth of global freshwater runoff, resulting in a freshwater plume rich in nutrients and trace elements entering the Atlantic Ocean. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-rio-par-contribute-high-metal.html Earth Sciences Environment Mon, 31 Jul 2023 11:42:36 EDT news610022553 A joint research team led by Prof. Wang Fan from the Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOCAS) has revealed how the seas around China respond to warming climate. The review article was published in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment on July 18. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-reveals-seas-china-climate.html Earth Sciences Environment Mon, 31 Jul 2023 11:02:22 EDT news610020139 In past ice ages, the intensity of summer insolation affected the emergence of warm and cold periods and played an important role in triggering abrupt climate changes, a study by climate researchers, geoscientists, and environmental physicists suggests. Using stalagmites in the European Alps, they were able to demonstrate that warm phases appeared primarily when the summer insolation reached maxima in the Northern Hemisphere. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-insolation-affected-ice-age-climate.html Earth Sciences Environment Mon, 31 Jul 2023 10:45:03 EDT news610019101