The SLF is researching permafrost and snow in Bhutan at an altitude of over 5000 meters and, together with the local population, is developing measures to reduce climate-related risks in the mountains. The Swiss National Science Foundation is funding the Cryo-Spirit project. Almost two years of intensive preparation were required. Now the time has come: Nadine Salzmann, head of the Alpine Environment and Natural Hazards research unit at the SLF, will set off for Bhutan next Saturday, September 14. In…
Researchers study cloud movement in the Arctic. Precise measurement of the warming and cooling of transported air masses for the first time. Special features of the Arctic climate, such as the strong reflection of the sun’s rays off the light snow or the low position of the sun, amplify global warming in the Arctic. However, researchers are often faced with the challenge of modelling the underlying climatic processes in order to be able to provide reliable weather forecasts. Scientists from…
SLF PhD student Patricia Asemann writes about her work on the Silvretta glacier, melting ice, falling winds and pasta with pesto. “Dancing in the moonlight” and Toto’s “Africa” sound off our phones’ speakers as we walk up the Silvretta glacier in the rhythm of the music. Our surroundings are beautiful but our eyes are fixed on the next bit of steep, bumpy, and slightly dirty ice to set our crampons on. Walking around on a glacier is usually pretty fun,…
Utah geophysicists find link between seismic waves called PKP precursors and anomalies in Earth’s mantle. For the decades since their discovery, seismic signals known as PKP precursors have challenged scientists. Regions of Earth’s lower mantle scatter incoming seismic waves, which return to the surface as PKP waves at differing speeds. The origin the precursor signals, which arrive ahead of the main seismic waves that travel through Earth’s core, has remained unclear, but research led by University of Utah geophysicists sheds…
IOW researchers investigate causes and effects. Marine heatwaves – periods in which the upper water layers in the sea temporarily become exceptionally warm – are occurring with increasing frequency worldwide. Recent studies by the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW) have now confirmed this trend also for the Baltic Sea. IOW researchers analysed very large meteorological and hydrographic data sets and identified the specific wind and weather conditions that cause Baltic Sea heatwaves. They also analysed for the…
The oxygen fugacity (fO2) of the mantle controls the speciation and mobility of volatiles within it, influencing the composition of volatiles released during mantle-derived magmatic activity, and thereby regulating the composition of the atmosphere. Researchers from the Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOCAS), together with their collaborators, have recently proposed a new parameter, “potential oxygen fugacity,” to directly compare the fO2 characteristics of melts formed at different depths. Current research on the fO2 of the mantle primarily focuses…
Seismologists measure tremors up to 5000 km away. It was a monster wave that hit a fjord on Greenland’s east coast on 16 September 2023: In certain places, the traces of the flooding reached 200 metres high. Researchers led by Angela Carrillo Ponce from the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) have now evaluated the seismic signals from earthquake measuring stations worldwide and discovered another unusual event: Triggered by the megatsunami, a standing wave sloshed back and forth in the…
… could reveal secrets of planet’s history. International team begin to unravel mantle’s role in life on Earth, volcanism and global cycles. Scientists have recovered the first long section of rocks that originated in the Earth’s mantle, the layer below the crust and the planet’s largest component. The rocks will help unravel the mantle’s role in the origins of life on Earth, the volcanic activity generated when it melts, and how it drives the global cycles of important elements such…
An international research team deployed the unmanned submarine ‘Ran’ from the University of Gothenburg underneath thick ice in Antarctica. They got back the very first detailed maps of the underside of a glacier, revealing clues to future sea level rise. The autonomous underwater vehicle, Ran, was programmed to dive into the cavity of Dotson ice shelf in West Antarctica, and scan the ice above it with an advanced sonar system. For 27 days, the submarine travelled a total of over…
New Nature Geoscience study shows variable behavior of currents in the deep sea. The seafloor is the final destination for all sorts of particles, like sand, mud, organic carbon that provides food for seafloor organisms, and even pollutants. Accumulations of these particles in the deep sea are used to reconstruct past climates, natural hazards and ocean conditions; providing valuable archives of past change that extend far beyond historical records. The lead scientist on the project, Dr Mike Clare of National…
How Sapphires Formed in Volcanoes. Researchers at Heidelberg University are studying the formation of this characteristically blue-colored crystal in volcanic melts. Sapphires are among the most precious gems, yet they consist solely of chemically “contaminated” aluminum oxide, or corundum. Worldwide, these characteristically blue-colored crystals are mainly found in association with silicon-poor volcanic rocks. This connection is widely assumed to result from sapphires originating in deep crustal rocks and accidentally ending up on the Earth’s surface as magma ascended. Through geochemical…
July 22, 2024, was the hottest day on record, according to a NASA analysis of global daily temperature data. July 21 and 23 of this year also exceeded the previous daily record, set in July 2023. These record-breaking temperatures are part of a long-term warming trend driven by human activities, primarily the emission of greenhouse gases. As part of its mission to expand our understanding of Earth, NASA collects critical long-term observations of our changing planet. “In a year that…
New study finds metallic minerals split water to generate ‘dark oxygen’. An international team of researchers, including a Northwestern University chemist, has discovered that metallic minerals on the deep-ocean floor produce oxygen — 13,000 feet below the surface. The surprising discovery challenges long-held assumptions that only photosynthetic organisms, such as plants and algae, generate Earth’s oxygen. But the new finding shows there might be another way. It appears oxygen also can be produced at the seafloor — where no light…
Greenland is surrounded by the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans – both oceans are significantly affected by climate change. The consequences are warmer, less salty and more acidic waters, an increased input of melt and river water and a rapid decline in sea ice. The international team of the MSM130 expedition, led by GEOMAR, is investigating these effects off the east coast of Greenland with the research vessel MARIA S. MERIAN. The focus is on research and modelling on the…
Current study involving GEOMAR calls for aquatic oxygen loss to be recognised as another Planetary Boundary. Oxygen concentrations in our planet’s waters is decreasing rapidly and dramatically – from ponds to the ocean. The progressive loss of oxygen threatens not only ecosystems, but also the livelihoods of large sectors of society and the entire planet, according to the authors of an international study involving GEOMAR published today in the scientific journal Nature Ecology and Evolution. They call for the loss…
A reef island adapts to changing environmental influences. Although it is surrounded by stressed coral reefs, an island in the Indonesian Spermonde Archipelago has not shrunk but continued to grow. Reef islands hence react dynamically to environmental changes that disturb their reef systems according to a new study by researchers from the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) in Bremen, Germany. Scientists examined the composition of the inhabited reef island Langkai off Makassar and reconstructed the course of the…
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