Atmospheric measurements made at Earth’s geographic poles provide a convenient way of validating and calibrating global circulation models. Such measurements also might provide some of the first conclusive evidence of global change in the middle and upper atmospheres. But new data shows that the current models are wrong: Temperatures over the South Pole are much colder in winter than scientists had anticipated.

As reported in the Aug. 28 issue of Geophysical Research Letters, scientist

Rogue trees are being ‘fingered’ by gene detectives using a well-known technique to catch criminals.

Newcastle University scientists are using DNA fingerprinting to help insurers identify trees that are causing houses to subside.

Often disputes can last for several years, as when two trees of the same kind grow in an area it is very difficult to find out which one is behind the problem. This is because their roots – which can grow underneath a house and cause the subsidenc

Extinction rates of native California plants have been studied by three researchers who found that previously designed mathematical and computer models were biased because they left out the human element in their predictions, according to an article published in the August 20 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. They conclude with the key concern that “understanding the relationship between habitat loss and loss of biodiversity is central to the development of sound conservation policy.”

Satellites show overall increases in antarctic sea ice coverWhile recent studies have shown that on the whole Arctic sea ice has decreased since the late 1970s, satellite records of sea ice around Antarctica reveal an overall increase in the southern hemisphere ice over the same period. Continued decreases or increases could have substantial impacts on polar climates, because sea ice spreads over a vast area, reflects solar radiation away from the Earth’s surface, and insulates the oceans from t

A team of geologists has determined the age of the oldest known meteorite impact on Earth – a catastrophic event that generated massive shockwaves across the planet billions of years before a similar event helped wipe out the dinosaurs.

In a study published in the Aug. 23 issue of the journal Science, the research team reports that an ancient meteorite slammed into Earth 3.47 billion years ago.

Scientists have yet to locate any trace of the extraterrestrial object itself or the gi

Meteorologists can no longer view the Earth as an isolated system. Both long-term climate changes and day-to-day weather show links with the Sun`s activity. Scientists therefore study the nature of those links intensely. With data from ESA`s spaceprobes SOHO, Cluster, and Ulysses, we now have the information we need to solve the mystery of how the Sun`s activity affects the climate here on Earth. This study is the first step in setting up a new type of weather forecast – the space-weather bulletin.

The event which occurred almost a hundred years ago in Podkamennaya Tunguska has drawn scientists` attention again. What actually exploded at that time in the remote taiga, the power of explosion being equal to the 50-megaton H-bomb? The hypothesis that it was a meteorite or any other extraterrestrial object has not quite satisfied inquisitive minds, since too many puzzles remain unsolved. A geologist Vladimir Epifanov, Siberian Research Institute of Geology, Geophysics and Mineral, reported to the

Natural soaps are an important weapon in the armoury that plants deploy to protect against disease attack, but a report today, in the international journal Nature, describes how disease-causing microbes can turn these plant defences to their own advantage. Scientists at the Sainsbury Laboratory (SL)[1] Norwich, UK, have discovered that fungi that attack tomatoes break down the natural soaps that help protect the plant against infection. Even worse for the plant, these breakdown products then interfe

Important ocean process examined with newly developed ’BubbleCam’

The relaxing atmosphere of a walk along the shore, especially the sounds of waves breaking on the beach, has seemingly forever lured people to coastlines.

For Grant Deane and Dale Stokes, oceanographers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, the seaside sounds of hundreds of millions of air bubbles bursting at the shoreline represent an important key to und

UC Irvine researchers are leading the effort to understand the causes and effects of one of the world’s leading environmental problems — air pollution. They are studying both regional and worldwide air pollution issues, ranging from the effects of freeway exhaust to the role dust storms and forest fires may play. UCI is also involved in a large-scale commuter transportation project designed to cut back on auto emissions and is home to the Air Pollution Health Effects Laboratory, which continues

A new study of marine ecosystems suggests that the preservation of biodiversity is more than just a lofty goal – it’s an absolute necessity to keep the system healthy and prevent both local or regional extinction of multiple species.

The population balance between various fish species, their competitors and their predators are all essential to the proper functioning of the ecosystem, the study showed, and overfishing of any one species can have ripple effects that destabilize the whole

Events like the September 2000 discovery of biologically engineered corn in fast food tortillas have focused media attention and stirred controversy about genetically modified organisms. While new approaches in agricultural biotechnology have improved crop quality and yield, the incorporation of genes from other organisms into food plants has raised concerns about possible health risks and environmental consequences. A new report from the American Academy of Microbiology (AAM) looks at the case of a

Though it has long been known by scientists that an ecosystem needs different kinds of plants and animals for optimal functioning, University of Georgia scientists have recently found that the genetic diversity of species within a habitat also affects ecosystem processes.

“It is not just the quantity of species diversity that matters, it is also the quality of genetic diversity,” said lead author Mike Madritch, an ecology doctoral student at UGA. Madritch studied carbon and nitrogen fluxes

Researchers from Woods Hole, Scripps oceanographic institutes sail on new Coast Guard ice breaker to study climate, ocean changes

A University of Massachusetts Amherst geoscientist is part of a team of researchers sailing the Bering and Chukchi seas this summer, searching for clues about the sea floor history and the land bridge that once existed between what is now Alaska and Russia. The team will also explore how the disappearance of the land bridge may have affected that region&#14

Russian scientists have found one more cause of depletion of the ozone layer. They think that abyssal gases can go to the surface and reach stratosphere, deteriorating the ozone shield. Underground nuclear explosions enforce this process. A geologist Boris Golubov of the Institute of Geosphere Dynamics RAS and a climatologist Grigoriy Kruchenitsky of Central Aerology Observatory are authors of this hypothesis.

Winter and spring are the most common seasons for ozone holes above Yakuti

Last year was characterised by extremes of weather all over the globe, making it the second-hottest year on record, beaten only by 1988. This year is set to follow that pattern, beginning with a major heat wave: during the first quarter of the year, temperatures were 0.71 degrees Celsius (1.3 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than the mean for temperatures between 1961 and 1990. What`s behind the apparent increase in weather extremes? To answer this increasingly urgent question, we need precise and detailed