University of Tübingen team studies plant growth in the northern polar region some 50 million years ago – paleoclimate with parallels to current global warming. Around 50 million years ago there were extensive, lush deciduous forests in the polar regions of the Arctic, where today there is sparse vegetation. The forests existed due to the conditions in the Eocene – a combination of a greenhouse climate and almost twice the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as there is…
New research by an international team of scientists explains what’s behind a stalled trend in Arctic Ocean sea ice loss since 2007. The findings indicate that stronger declines in sea ice will occur when an atmospheric feature known as the Arctic dipole reverses itself in its recurring cycle. The many environmental responses to the Arctic dipole are described in a paper published online today in the journal Science. This analysis helps explain how North Atlantic water influences Arctic Ocean climate. Scientists call…
For more than 30 years, the models that researchers and government agencies use to forecast earthquake aftershocks have remained largely unchanged. While these older models work well with limited data, they struggle with the huge seismology datasets that are now available. To address this limitation, a team of researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz and the Technical University of Munich created a new model that uses deep learning to forecast aftershocks: the Recurrent Earthquake foreCAST (RECAST). In a paper published today in…
Deciphering patterns in “microphysical” features of precipitation. Scientists from Tokyo Metropolitan University and other institutes have studied new satellite data showing the diameter of rain droplets and the distribution of heavy ice in the atmosphere worldwide. They focused on the Asian monsoon region, finding larger droplets and more heavy ice precipitation on land before the actual monsoon season. Their findings shed new light on the features of the pre-monsoon season, such as more intense precipitation and lightning, potentially informing better…
MARUM team retrieves deep-sea observatory developed in Bremen. How much methane escapes from the ocean floor? This question is the focus of an international project in which MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen is also involved. An expedition to the underwater observatory off the west coast of the USA is now starting, at the end of the M³ project (Sonar Monitoring of Marine Methane emissions), with the research vessel THOMAS G. THOMPSON and the…
A new theory shows how water underneath glaciers may surge — creating a dangerous feedback cycle. Two Georgia Tech researchers, Alex Robel and Shi Joyce Sim, have collaborated on a new model for how water moves under glaciers. The new theory shows that up to twice the amount of subglacial water that was originally predicted might be draining into the ocean – potentially increasing glacial melt, sea level rise, and biological disturbances. Shi Joyce Sim is a research scientist…
SLF researchers have been mapping snow depths in detail over a large area. The new technique yields important basic data. You don’t always need a laser – sometimes a camera will do. Researchers at the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF) have now disproved the paradigm that the height of snowpack can only be accurately determined from the air using laser scanners, says Yves Bühler, Head of the SLF’s Alpine Remote Sensing research group. “We were surprised ourselves…
Using drone imagery and artificial intelligence (AI), scientists from the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) in Bremen have developed a method that delineates each tree in a forest, along with an estimate of its height and diameter. This capability can help to create biological inventories of forests such as mangroves and also to determine their stocks of stored carbon. Their study recently appeared as a featured article in the journal “Remote Sensing”. Mangrove forests can store large amounts…
Research cruise with the METEOR starts. Expedition investigates hydrothermal systems in different water depths for the first time. Deep-sea hydrothermal vents, also often called black smokers because of their characteristic appearance, are a hotspot of life. The vents are often the only source of food, which is why symbioses between animals and microorganisms form here. Hydrothermal systems also exist in shallower waters. Food scarcity is not prevalent because of the availability of light and the associated possibility of photosynthesis, and…
Graz University of Technology and University of Graz supply new forecasting service for the ESA’s Space Safety Programme. The effects of solar storms on the Earth’s atmosphere can cause satellites to crash. To prevent this from happening, the European Space Agency (ESA) is now using SODA, a forecasting service developed in Graz. After a successful test phase, the Satellite Orbit DecAy (SODA) service, which was jointly developed by TU Graz and the University of Graz, officially became part of the…
New research could spark future diamond discoveries. An international team of scientists led by the University of Southampton has discovered that the breakup of tectonic plates is the main driving force behind the generation and eruption of diamond-rich magmas from deep inside the Earth. Their findings could shape the future of the diamond exploration industry, informing where diamonds are most likely to be found. Diamonds, which form under great pressures at depth, are hundreds of millions, or even billions, of…
HALO research aircraft to analyze the transport of greenhouses gases and aerosols over the Pacific. The extreme precipitation that occurs during the Asiatic monsoon season repeatedly causes catastrophic devastation in Southeast Asia. The same weather systems which cause these extreme events also affect the altitude region of 12 to 20 kilometers. Strong convection transports partly heavily polluted air masses from the ground-level atmosphere in Southeast Asia into this altitude region, the so-called upper troposphere/lower stratosphere, and from the northern Pacific…
Earth’s earliest history still holds mysteries for geologists, and ancient craters could provide some answers — scientists are racing against time to find them. 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. The study was published…
… for TROPOS before re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere. After completing a very successful mission, ESA’s Aeolus satellite is on its descent from 320 km altitude back to Earth’s atmosphere. While the satellite would usually fall down slowly due to the Earth’s gravity, ESA is attempting to return Aeolus in an controlled reentry (Read more via ESA:: https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/FutureEO/Aeolus/Guiding_Aeo…). The final manoeuvres for this reentry are happing right now and can be followed here: https://blogs.esa.int/rocketscience/2023/07/24/aeolus-reentry-live/ . On this occasion, a brief…
… on Earth and icy worlds. Scientists at the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics (UTIG) have developed a radar technique that lets them image hidden features within the upper few feet of ice sheets. The researchers behind the technique said that it can be used to investigate melting glaciers on Earth as well as detect potentially habitable environments on Jupiter’s moon Europa. The near-surface layers of ice sheets are difficult to study with airborne or satellite ice-penetrating radar because…
A research group from Nagoya University has accurately simulated air turbulence occurring on clear days around Tokyo using Japan’s fastest supercomputer. They then compared their findings with flight data to create a more accurate predictive model. The research was reported in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. Although air turbulence is usually associated with bad weather, an airplane cabin can shake violently even on a sunny and cloudless day. Known as clear air turbulence (CAT), these turbulent air movements can occur…
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