These newly discovered extreme environments offer clues on extraterrestrial life and may hold potential cancer-fighting compounds. Researchers at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science recently discovered rare deep-sea brine pools in the Gulf of Aqaba, a northern extension to the Red Sea. These salty underwater lakes hold secrets into the way oceans on Earth formed millions of years ago, and offer clues to life on other planets. In partnership with OceanX, Sam Purkis, professor and…
Data from fossil corals points to changed circulation of ocean currents – an important finding for climate models. Located between Australia and New Zealand, the Tasman Sea is an important but so far neglected component of the global ocean conveyor belt. Now a new study has discovered evidence that this marginal sea in the South Pacific also played an important role in the exchange of water masses between the large ocean basins during the last ice age. These findings will…
A new publication and interactive map summarise the current state of knowledge on the risks posed by permafrost soils – and call for decisive action. How is climate change affecting the permanently frozen soils of the Arctic? What will the consequences be for the global climate, human beings, and ecosystems? And what can be done to stop it? In the journal Frontiers in Environmental Science, a team of experts led by Benjamin Abbott from Brigham Young University, USA and Jens…
Research icebreaker departs for a process study in the marginal ice zone north of Svalbard and glacier research off Greenland. Today, the research vessel Polarstern will depart on a seven-week-long voyage to the Arctic, where the onset of summer also marks the beginning of the annual sea-ice melting. Over the past 40 years, the summer sea-ice extent has decreased by 40 percent – making it one of the most visible impacts of climate change. In a process study to be…
University of Tübingen research team uses properties of quartz in sediments to study sedi-mentary cycles and climate dynamics. Global warming and a progressively drier climate in many parts of the world are causing more dust storms. To predict how these storms are caused, researchers are looking into the past to understand where the dust came from, for how long, and over what distances it was transported. An international research team led by Dr. Aditi K. Dave and Professor Kathryn Fitzsimmons…
A new study shows the inner core oscillates. USC Dornsife scientists identify a six-year cycle of super- and sub-rotation that affected the length of a day based on their analysis of seismic data. USC scientists have found evidence that the Earth’s inner core oscillates, contradicting previously accepted models that suggested it consistently rotates at a faster rate than the planet’s surface. Their study, published today in Science Advances, shows that the inner core changed direction in the six-year period from…
Eichstätt geographers survey mountainscape to come to light as glaciers melt away. How thick is the remaining layer of glacial ice in the Alps? And what is going on underneath that cover of ice? A research team of the Geography Department at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Inolstadt (KU) is taking a look at what happens when glaciers melt – and thereby identifies potential danger zones. Climate change has caused glacier ice worldwide to melt at an ever faster pace. The…
Faults once thought to be “creeping” yet stable may be at risk for big ruptures. By simulating earthquakes in a lab, Caltech engineers have provided strong experimental support for a form of earthquake propagation now thought responsible for the magnitude-9.0 earthquake that devastated the coast of Japan in 2011. Along some fault lines, which are the boundaries of tectonic plates, a fine-grained gravel is formed as the plates grind against one another. The influence of this gravel on earthquakes has…
Europe imports most of its raw materials used in renewable energy and digital technologies. But Europe has its own deposits of key raw materials and boosting domestic production would help to secure strategic and industrial value chains. A new Horizon Europe project, VECTOR is coordinated by the Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology (HIF) at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) with 18 partners from seven countries. VECTOR partners aim to understand the acceptance and improve the efficiency of exploration in Europe by…
During heavy storms, the normally stratified layers of water in ocean fjords get mixed, which leads to oxygenation of the fjord floor. But these storm events also result in a spike in methane emissions from fjords to the atmosphere. Researchers from the University of Gothenburg have estimated that the total emissions of this climate-warming gas are as great from fjords as from all the deep ocean areas in the world put together. The world’s fjords were created when the inland…
… Just add CO2. Mount Erebus, Antarctica’s only active volcano, shows how carbon dioxide allows volcanoes to form persistent lava lakes at the surface. Antarctica has long been a land of mystery and heroic feats made famous by the explorations of James Ross, Roald Amundsen, Robert Scott and Ernest Shackleton. A key piece of the puzzle for understanding global continental evolution, Antarctica contains examples that define the spectrum of Earth’s volcanic processes. Now, a joint University of Utah and University…
International team reports on highly oxidized hydrotrioxides in SCIENCE. An international research team has now succeeded in detecting hydrotrioxides (ROOOH) for the first time under atmospheric conditions. Until now, there was only speculation that these organic compounds with the unusual OOOH group exist. In laboratory experiments, their formation during the oxidation of important hydrocarbons, such as isoprene and alpha-pinene, have been clearly demonstrated. By means of quantum chemical calculations and model calculations, important data on this new class of substances…
Despite the rapid melting of ice in many parts of Antarctica during the second half of the 20th century, researchers have found that the floating ice shelves which skirt the eastern Antarctic Peninsula have undergone sustained advance over the past 20 years. Ice shelves – floating sections of ice which are attached to land-based ice sheets – serve the vital purpose of buttressing against the uncontrolled release of inland ice to the ocean. During the late 20th century, high levels…
Study proves value of electromagnetic techniques in a new polar environment. Scientists have made the first detection of groundwater beneath an Antarctic ice stream. The discovery confirms what researchers had already suspected but had been unable to verify until now. Researchers need data from all parts of the Antarctic ice sheet to understand how the system works and how it changes over time in response to climate. The study provides a glimpse of a previously inaccessible and unexplored part of…
Meltwater seeping beneath Arctic glaciers puts thickest and fastest at risk of sudden collapse. As climate change warms the planet, glaciers are melting faster, and scientists fear that many will collapse by the end of the century, drastically raising sea level and inundating coastal cities and island nations. A University of California, Berkeley, scientist has now created an improved model of glacial movement that could help pinpoint those glaciers in the Arctic and Antarctic most likely to rapidly slide downhill…
A new method for detecting tsunamis using existing GPS satellites orbiting Earth could serve as an effective warning system for countries worldwide, according to a new study by an international team led by UCL (University College London) researchers. A new method for detecting tsunamis using existing GPS satellites orbiting Earth could serve as an effective warning system for countries worldwide, according to a new study by an international team led by UCL researchers. Initial tsunami waves are typically a few…
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