A new study led by Prof. CHEN Yi from the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IGGCAS) provides an answer to the question of how young volcanism occurred on the Moon. The researchers found that mantle melting-point depression due to the presence of fusible, easily melted components could generate young lunar volcanism. Their findings were published in Science Advances on Oct. 21. Lunar samples returned by the Apollo and Luna missions are all older than…

‘The Trapping Zone’ – creating oasis of life in the Maldives. The Nekton Maldives Mission, involving researchers from the University of Oxford, has found evidence of a previously undescribed ecosystem – ‘The Trapping Zone’ – that is creating an oasis of life 500 metres down in the depths of the Indian Ocean. The discovery has been hailed as highly significant by the Maldives Government. Video evidence from Nekton science cameras aboard the Omega Seamaster II submersible, combined with collected biological…

A newly discovered type of transferrable DNA structure with a sci-fi name appears to play a role in balancing atmospheric methane. In Star Trek, the Borg are a ruthless, hive-minded collective that assimilate other beings with the intent of taking over the galaxy. Here on nonfictional planet Earth, Borgs are DNA packages that could help humans fight climate change. Last year, a team led by Jill Banfield discovered DNA structures within a methane-consuming microbe called Methanoperedens that appear to supercharge…

The process is associated with warming of the ocean subsurface resulting in a reduction of surface salinity due to the release of huge iceberg armadas from glaciers. The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC), a system of ocean currents that carry warm water from the tropics into the North Atlantic and transport cold water from the northern to the southern hemisphere, is a fundamental mechanism for the regulation of Earth’s climate. The conveyor belt has collapsed in the past owing to…

Climate change is causing the Arctic Ocean’s sea ice to melt away. When the polar ocean loses its cover of sea ice, carbon dioxide uptake increases disrupting the food web in the water according to a study in the journal Science co-authored by researchers from the University of Gothenburg. By comparing data from a long list of Arctic expeditions, researchers have been able to see how the pH of the ocean north of Alaska and Siberia has decreased rapidly. In…

… must be factored into global climate targets. By the end of this century, permafrost in the rapidly warming Arctic will likely emit as much carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere as a large industrial nation, and potentially more than the U.S. has emitted since the start of the industrial revolution. But that’s only one possible future for the vast stores of carbon locked in the formerly perennially frozen but now-thawing ground in the Arctic. Using over a decade…

A major new project will help benchmark biodiversity change in the Arctic Ocean and guide conservation efforts by identifying unique species and assessing their extinction risk. Developed by an international team of scientists under the joint leadership of the University of East Anglia (UEA) in the UK and the Alfred-Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI) in Germany, the EcoOmics dataset will also support bioprospecting to tackle the shortage of antibiotics and antiviral medication, as well as…

How are species richness and the characteristics of running waters related worldwide? This question is being addressed by a team led by IGB scientist Sami Domisch. The researchers have developed the highest-resolution map of the world’s river systems ever produced. The map provides a basis for the detailed analysis of what characterises riverine habitats and how they are interconnected. Rivers are the “lifelines” of all land masses on earth. This is also visible in the map that Sami Domisch has…

Human-induced climate change has already had a major impact on Earth’s biodiversity. The habitat of many species – including those in the oceans – Is disappearing, and invasive species are conquering new regions. In a comprehensive data analysis, a team of researchers from Bremen and Oldenburg has studied how species communities in the North Atlantic have changed over a period of 24,000 years – since the last ice age. As expected, species have migrated northward, but new communities have also…

New technology developed at the University of Waterloo could make a significant difference in the fight against climate change by affordably converting harmful carbon dioxide (CO2) into fuels and other valuable chemicals on an industrial scale. Outlined in a study published today in the journal Nature Energy, the system yields 10 times more carbon monoxide (CO) – which can be used to make ethanol, methane and other desirable substances – than existing, small-scale technologies now limited to testing in laboratories. Its individual…

Study identifies cause of lake’s water loss. The Salton Sea, California’s most polluted inland lake, has lost a third of its water in the last 25 years. New research has determined a decline in Colorado River flow is the reason for that shrinking. As the lake dries up, the concentration of salt and chemicals in the remaining water has increased dramatically, causing a mass die-off of fish and birds, including endangered species. The dry lakebed, coated in the salty, toxic…

The scientific expedition to the Nord Stream leak from the University of Gothenburg has arrived back home. The researchers discovered that the methane levels near the leak were about 1,000 times higher than normal, but it’s too early to draw any conclusions from that discovery. The researchers have brought back heaps of samples to analyse. After five days at sea, the research vessel Skagerak is back home in Gothenburg. The hastily organised expedition to the Nord Stream leaks in the…

Kick-off meeting for DFG Priority Programme “Tropical Climate Variability & Coral Reefs”. Corals and coral reefs store information about how the ocean-atmosphere system functioned in the past, but also about what environmental stresses they were exposed to. For example, instrumental records of sea surface observations and reef monitoring can be extended to provide a near-monthly record of past conditions. The Priority Programme is coordinated by Dr. Thomas Felis (University of Bremen, MARUM). More than 40 scientists from ten universities, three…

Deep valleys buried under the seafloor of the North Sea record how the ancient ice sheets that used to cover the UK and Europe expelled water to stop themselves from collapsing. A new study published this week has surprised the research team, who discovered that the valleys took just hundreds of years to form as they transported vast amounts of meltwater away from under the ice and out into the sea. This new understanding of when the vast ice sheets…

… to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, advancing a recent Science study. Scientists from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of California, Santa Barbara, and Dow have developed a breakthrough process to transform the most widely produced plastic — polyethylene (PE) — into the second-most widely produced plastic, polypropylene (PP), which could reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). “The world needs more and better options for extracting the energy and molecular value from its waste plastics,” said co-lead author Susannah Scott, Distinguished…

Forecasters are predicting a “three-peat La Niña” this year. This will be the third winter in a row that the Pacific Ocean has been in a La Niña cycle, something that’s happened only twice before in records going back to 1950. New research led by the University of Washington offers a possible explanation. The study, recently published in Geophysical Research Letters, suggests that climate change is, in the short term, favoring La Niñas. “The Pacific Ocean naturally cycles between El…