Earth Sciences

Intense dust storms, such as this haboob in Mali, proceed torrential rain in the Sahel. Credit: Picture: Françoise Guichard / Laurent Kergoat / CNRS Photo Library
Earth Sciences

Soil Conditions Boost Rainfall in Megastorm Hotspots

Study shows contrast between wet and dry areas increases rain by up to 30% Storm forecasting is traditionally based on studying atmospheric conditions but ground-breaking research that also looks at land surface conditions is set to transform early warning systems in tropical regions. This will enable communities to better adapt to the destructive impacts of climate change. The new study led by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) has shown that a large contrast in soil moisture levels…

Debris and destroyed building that collapsed from the earthquake. Image by skarie20, Envato
Earth Sciences

Understanding Earthquake Types in Guerrero, Mexico

Plate temperature and water release can explain the occurrence of different types of earthquakes in Guerrera, Mexico. The Kobe University simulation study also showed that the shape of the Cocos Plate is responsible for a gap where earthquakes haven’t occurred for more than a century. The results are important for accurate earthquake prediction models in the region. Where one tectonic plate is pushed down by another, the resulting stress is released in various tectonic events. There are catastrophic megathrust earthquakes,…

A section of South Dakota’s Wind Cave seen under normal white light (left image) transforms into something otherworldly when placed under UV light (right image). Image Credit: Joshua Sebree
Earth Sciences

Fluorescent Caves: Insights Into Life Beyond Earth

Deep below Earth’s surface, rock and mineral formations lay hidden with a secret brilliance. Under a black light, the chemicals fossilized within shine in brilliant hues of pink, blue and green. Scientists are using these fluorescent features to understand how the caves formed and how life is supported in extreme environments, which may reveal how life could persist in faraway places, like Jupiter’s icy moon Europa. The researchers will present their results at the spring meeting of the American Chemical…

Weatland in the Alps. Image Credit: INRAE - Sébastien De Danieli
Earth Sciences

Unlocking Carbon: Soil and Water’s Role in Sequestration

Recent studies have shown that carbon stocks in terrestrial ecosystems are increasing, mitigating around 30% of the CO2 emissions linked to human activities. The overall value of carbon sinks on the earth’s surface is fairly well known—as it can be deduced from the planet’s total carbon balance anthropogenic emissions, the accumulation of carbon in the atmosphere and the ocean sinks—yet, researchers know very little about carbon distribution between the various terrestrial pools: living vegetation—mainly forests—and nonliving carbon pools—soil organic matter,…

A Fossilized feather preserved with the volcanic rock. Image Credit: Edoardo Terranova
Earth Sciences

New Fossil Discovery Sheds Light on Tissue Preservation

An analysis of a 30,000-year-old fossil vulture from Central Italy has revealed for the first time that volcanic rock can preserve microscopic details in feathers – the first ever record of such a preservation. An international team, led by Dr Valentina Rossi (University College Cork, Ireland), discovered a new mode of preservation of soft tissues that can occur when animals are buried in ash-rich volcanic sediments. The new research, published in the scientific journal Geology, reveals that the feathers are…

Hurricane Igor (2010) over Bermuda and the MBL's Oceanic Flux Program research station. Image Credit: NASA MODIS
Earth Sciences

Hurricanes Leave Lasting Impact on Deep Ocean Ecosystems

By David Chandler WOODS HOLE, Mass. – The impact of hurricanes when they travel over land, or when they affect ships or oil-drilling platforms, are quite well understood. But these huge cyclones also stir up the ocean itself, with consequences that are relatively unknown and hard to study. But a unique, subsurface experimental platform moored to the floor of the Sargasso Sea, about 47 miles southeast of Bermuda, is changing that. With collection points at increasing depths along the mooring…

Proportion of current geological resource production exceeding production capacity determined by the regional water availability for the top ten geological resources with the largest volume of water overconsumption. Image Credit: National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)
Earth Sciences

Geological Resources and Regional Water Availability Limits

The study shows that the regional water availability constrains the current and future production of 32 geological resources Geological resources such as critical metals and minerals, essential for the diffusion of technologies such as renewable energy and energy storage towards a decarbonized society, are indispensable for supporting modern life in the form of various products and services. Their demand is expected to increase in the coming years owing to global population as well as economic growth. Thus far, scientists and…

CUREE, an autonomous underwater robot, is used by the researchers to collect acoustic data for analysis. Image Credit: Austin Greene, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Earth Sciences

Neural Network Identifies Coral Reef Sounds with ‘Fishial’ Recognition

Faster identification of fish sounds from acoustic recordings can improve research, conservation efforts Coral reefs are some of the world’s most diverse ecosystems. Despite making up less than 1% of the world’s oceans, one quarter of all marine species spend some portion of their life on a reef. With so much life in one spot, researchers can struggle to gain a clear understanding of which species are present and in what numbers. In JASA, published on behalf of the Acoustical…

Flooding in the low-lying Mapunapuna industrial area on O'ahu, Hawai'i. Image Credit: Hawaiʻi Sea Grant King Tides Project.
Earth Sciences

Flooding Risks Increase in Hawai’i’s Sinking Coastal Areas

Some parts of Hawai‘i are sinking faster than others. That discovery, published recently in a study by researchers at the University of Hawai‘i (UH) at Mānoa, also highlights that as sea level rises, the infrastructure, businesses, and communities in these low-lying areas are at risk of flooding sooner than scientists anticipated, particularly in certain urban areas of O‘ahu. “Our findings highlight that subsidence is a major, yet often overlooked, factor in assessments of future flood exposure,” said Kyle Murray, lead…

Visualisation of seismic model S40RTS (Ritsema et al., 2011), showing the LLVP (large red area) under Africa, made using the GPlates software. Image Credit: Jeroen Ritsema et al.
Earth Sciences

Unlocking Earth’s Deep Mantle: Evolutionary History Revealed

A new study led by researchers at Cardiff University, the University of Oxford, the University of Bristol, and the University of Michigan has revealed that two continent-size regions in Earth’s deep mantle have distinctive histories and resulting chemical composition, in contrast to the common assumption they are the same. The findings are available to read in the journal Scientific Reports. Seismologists have long known that seismic waves – generated by earthquakes – do not travel through all parts of Earth’s…

The diamond anvil crushed iron and helium together under conditions mimicking those inside the Earth, to create a new compound. These compounds remained stable when pressures were reduced. Further analysis confirmed helium’s incorporation into iron’s crystal lattice. Image Credit: ©2025 Hirose et al. CC-BY-ND
Earth Sciences

Unlocking Helium Secrets: Earth’s Core Insights Revealed

The discovery that inert helium can bond with iron could rewrite Earth’s history Researchers from Japan and Taiwan reveal for the first time that helium, usually considered chemically inert, can bond with iron under high pressures. They used a laser-heated diamond anvil cell to find this, and the discovery suggests there could be huge amounts of helium in the Earth’s core. This could challenge long-standing ideas about the planet’s internal structure and history, and may even reveal details of the…

ECMWF Artificial Intelligence Forecasting System (AIFS). Image Credit: ECMWF
Earth Sciences

ECMWF Shares AI Weather Forecast Data for All Users

A newly operational model, known as the Artificial Intelligence Forecasting System (AIFS), has been launched by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), an intergovernmental centre and leader in numerical weather prediction. ECMWF – Europe’s leading centre for weather prediction makes forecast data from AI model available to all A newly operational model, known as the Artificial Intelligence Forecasting System (AIFS), has been launched by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), an intergovernmental centre and leader in…

Sand Mining Barge on Kuala Langat River, Selangor, Malaysia. Image Credit: Khairil Yusof, Creative Commons
Earth Sciences

The Impact of Sand Mining on Marine Life Today

In the delicate balancing act between human development and protecting the fragile natural world, sand is weighing down the scales on the human side. A group of international scientists in this week’s journal One Earth are calling for balancing those scales to better identify the significant damage sand extraction across the world heaps upon marine biodiversity. The first step: acknowledging sand and gravel (discussed as sand in this publication) – the world’s most extracted solid materials by mass – are…

Earth Sciences

Coastal Erosion Endangers Ancient Cities and Local Areas

USC research on the vanishing coastlines of Alexandria, Egypt, offers nature-based solutions for protecting coastal cities globally, including those in California. A new USC study reveals a dramatic surge in building collapses in the ancient Egyptian port city of Alexandria, directly linked to rising sea levels and seawater intrusion. Once a rare occurrence, building collapses in Alexandria — one of the world’s oldest cities, often called the “bride of the Mediterranean” for its beauty — have accelerated from approximately one…

Marine snow consists of debris from diverse organisms in the water column. Picture shows marine snow from the Sargasso Sea. Image Credit: L. Riemann
Earth Sciences

Nitrogen Fixation on Marine Particles: A Key Ocean Process

How on Earth? It has puzzled scientists for years whether and how bacteria, that live from dissolved organic matter in marine waters, can carry out N2 fixation. It was assumed that the high levels of oxygen combined with the low amount of dissolved organic matter in the marine water column would prevent the anaerobic and energy consuming N2 fixation. Already in the 1980s it was suggested that aggregates, so-called “marine snow particles”, could possibly be suitable sites for N2fixation, and this was…

Study author, Maëlan Tomasek, with a “volunteer” in the experiment conducted in the Mediterranean Sea. Image Credit: Maëlan Tomasek
Earth Sciences

Wild Fish Recognize Individual Divers: A Remarkable Discovery

Fish used visual differences between divers to recognize the person who rewarded them For years, scientific divers at a research station in the Mediterranean Sea had a problem: at some point in every field season, local fish would follow them and steal food intended as experimental rewards. Intriguingly these wild fish appeared to recognize the specific diver who had previously carried food, choosing to follow only them while ignoring other divers. To find out if that was true, a team…

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