Using satellites, we are now able to measure the ice thickness – also in the summer. This is of great importance for the shipping in Arctic and future weather and climate forecasts. The solution is developed by an international team, led by researchers at UiT The Arctic University of Norway and the University of Bristol. “The Arctic ice is melting faster than ever. We need knowledge about the thickness of the sea ice, both to reduce safety risks for businesses…
Researchers suggest ocean cooling is an effectively impossible solution to mitigate disasters. A new study found that even if we did have the infinite power to artificially cool enough of the oceans to weaken a hurricane, the benefits would be minimal. The study led by scientists at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric and Earth Science showed that the energy alone that is needed to use intervention technology to weaken a hurricane before landfall makes it…
Eight ice caves in four Austrian federal states: A team of geologists from the University of Innsbruck has comprehensively documented the loss and gain of ice in Alpine ice caves over the last 2000 years for the first time. The geologist Tanguy Racine warns: The ice of smaller caves especially is in danger of disappearing in the near future and with it a valuable climate archive. The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports. There are several thousand documented…
Expected to improve results for meniscal reconstruction surgery. The knee meniscus is an important tissue that protects the joint; if the meniscus is damaged—by sports injury or aging–it often does not heal on its own. There are two surgical methods for treating a torn meniscus: repair with a suture and graft or removal. Because removing the meniscus leads to further damage, the graft surgery is preferred for meniscus reconstruction. In countries where donated meniscal allograft is unavailable the patient’s own…
“Deep biosphere” shaped by dissolved organic material from Earth’s surface. A research team with lead author Helena Osterholz of the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research (IOW) reports in the latest issue of the journal Nature Communications on possible pathways by which microbial communities in the nutrient-poor “deep biosphere” can ensure survival. Among others, dissolved organic matter (DOM) was investigated in different deep groundwaters. Result: Already in the uppermost layers of the bedrock most of the labile matter is converted….
First-ever measurements of total mercury levels in the polar night uncovered a 33 per cent drop compared to summer levels. Over the last decade, researchers have learned a lot about the polar night — discovering everything from how tiny marine critters migrate up and down in the sea in response to the weak light of the moon, to seabirds that dive into the pitch-black ocean to feast on bioluminescent plankton and krill. But what is less well known is how…
Hot springs occur worldwide at spreading ridges of the Earth’s plates. On the 500 kilometer long Knipovich Ridge, located between Greenland and Spitsbergen, hydrothermal vents were previously unknown. During the 109th expedition with the research vessel MARIA S. MERIAN, researchers from Bremen and Norway have now discovered for the first time a field with numerous hydrothermal vents on the Knipovich Ridge. “Following indications in the water column of hydrothermal activity, we searched the ocean floor with the remotely operated vehicle…
The world is “woefully underprepared” for a massive volcanic eruption and the likely repercussions on global supply chains, climate and food, according to experts from the University of Cambridge’s Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER), and the University of Birmingham. In an article published in the journal Nature, they say there is a “broad misconception” that risks of major eruptions are low, and describe current lack of governmental investment in monitoring and responding to potential volcano disasters as…
It’s not just the land that is groaning under the heat – the ocean is also suffering from heatwaves. In the Mediterranean Sea along the Italian and Spanish coasts, for example, water temperatures are currently up to 5 °C higher than the long-term average at this time of year. Scientists have investigated marine heatwaves for a few years now – for example at the University of Bern. However, relatively little is known about how marine heatwaves co-occur with other extreme…
In a comment recently published in “Nature”, Dr. Ugur Öztürk and his colleagues at the University of Potsdam, the University of Bristol and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research claim that more settlements will suffer from landslides in the future as climate change and urban sprawl are destabilizing slopes in the tropics. Over the last fifty years, disasters caused by landslides and floods have become ten times more frequent, despite landslides being significantly underreported in global databases. Worldwide, 4500…
International team of geoscientists led by University of Jena drills the oldest well-preserved sedimentary rocks on our planet in South Africa. An international team of scientists led by Prof. Christoph Heubeck of Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany has drilled boreholes in South Africa that will help answer questions about the early history of our planet. The cores come from the “Barberton greenstone belt” near South Africa’s border with Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) and can be dated to about 3.2 billion years…
Scientists at Newcastle University have uncovered a source of oxygen that may have influenced the evolution of life before the advent of photosynthesis. The pioneering research project, led by Newcastle University’s School of Natural and Environmental Sciences and published today in Nature Communications, uncovered a mechanism that can generate hydrogen peroxide from rocks during the movement of geological faults. While in high concentrations hydrogen peroxide can be harmful to life, it can also provide a useful source of oxygen to…
Ancient rocks hold clues. New paleomagnetic research suggests Earth’s solid inner core formed 550 million years ago and restored our planet’s magnetic field. Approximately 1,800 miles beneath our feet, swirling liquid iron in the Earth’s outer core generates our planet’s protective magnetic field. This magnetic field is invisible but is vital for life on Earth’s surface because it shields the planet from solar wind—streams of radiation from the sun. About 565 million years ago, however, the magnetic field’s strength decreased…
The first-known, off-axis, high-temperature deep-sea hydrothermal vents along a portion of the northern East Pacific Rise are hotter and cover more area than any other hydrothermal vents studied to date along this section of the mid-ocean ridge. Finding a new, high-temperature, off-axis hydrothermal vent field on the floor of the Pacific Ocean at 2550 meters depth could change scientists’ understanding of the impact that such ocean-floor vent systems have on the life and chemistry of Earth’s oceans. A team of…
CSU researcher offers first observations of milky seas observed from the Earth’s surface, and from space at the same time. Milky seas – the rare phenomenon of glowing areas on the ocean’s surface that can cover hundreds of square miles – are not new to scientists at Colorado State University. They have previously demonstrated the use of satellites to see these elusive phenomena. What was missing were photographic observations of milky seas observed from the Earth’s surface and from space at the same…
More of the world’s coastal glaciers are melting faster than ever, but exactly what’s triggering the large-scale retreat has been difficult to pin down because of natural fluctuations in the glaciers’ surroundings. Now, researchers at the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics (UTIG) and Georgia Tech have developed a methodology that they think cracks the code to why coastal glaciers are retreating, and in turn, how much can be attributed to human-caused climate change. Attributing the human role for coastal…
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