https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. During the last ice age, the Atlantic Ocean's powerful current system remained active and continued to transport warm, salty water from the tropics to the North Atlantic despite extensive ice cover across much of the Northern Hemisphere, finds new research led by UCL scientists. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-critical-atlantic-ocean-currents-ice.html Earth Sciences Wed, 21 Jan 2026 11:00:10 EST news688120502 The ocean is continuously ventilated when surface waters sink and transport, for example, oxygen and carbon to greater depths. The efficiency of this process can be estimated using the so-called water age, which describes the time elapsed since a water mass last was in contact with the atmosphere. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-north-atlantic-deep-slower-renewal.html Earth Sciences Tue, 20 Jan 2026 16:11:41 EST news688147861 Reliable predictions of how the Earth's climate will respond as atmospheric carbon dioxide levels increase are based on climate models. These models, in turn, are based on data from past geological times in which the CO2 content in the Earth's atmosphere changed in a similar way to today and the near future. The data originate from measurable indicators (proxies), the interpretation of which is used to reconstruct the climate of the past. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-temperature-extreme-high-latitude-warmth.html Earth Sciences Fri, 16 Jan 2026 11:59:30 EST news687787141 A research team led by The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) scholars has discovered a significant slowdown in Arctic sea ice melting since 2012, with a decrease rate of 11.3% per decade to an insignificant downward trend of only −0.4% per decade. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-arctic-sea-ice-slowdown-linked.html Earth Sciences Tue, 23 Dec 2025 11:10:13 EST news685710570 The oceanic conditions that churn up the very strongest of hurricanes and typhoons are heating up in the North Atlantic and Western Pacific, fueled by warm water that extends well below the surface. Human-caused climate change may be responsible for up to 70% of the growth of storm-brewing hotspots there, according to new research. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-category-tropical-cyclone-hot.html Earth Sciences Tue, 16 Dec 2025 17:30:05 EST news685114011 The Arctic has experienced its hottest year since records began, a US science agency announced Tuesday, as climate change triggers cascading impacts from melting glaciers and sea ice to greening landscapes and disruptions to global weather. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-arctic-unprecedented-climate-impacts-cascade.html Environment Tue, 16 Dec 2025 14:01:02 EST news685115997 Two dozen Kemp's ridley sea turtles are rehabilitating in Florida after the frigid waters off of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, left them struggling with frostbite, pneumonia and abrasions. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-endangered-sea-turtles-recovering-florida.html Ecology Tue, 16 Dec 2025 05:03:56 EST news685083793 For the first time, scientists have resolved extremely intense tropical cyclones and their effect on the ocean carbon cycle in a global Earth system model. Using two category-4 hurricanes in the North Atlantic as examples, the study reveals a cascade of physical-biogeochemical effects including uptake of carbon dioxide and regional-scale phytoplankton bloom. The results are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-tropical-cyclones-carbon-insights-simulation.html Earth Sciences Wed, 10 Dec 2025 12:22:35 EST news684591721 Around 12,000 years ago, the last Ice Age ended, global temperatures rose and the early Holocene began, during which time human societies became increasingly settled. A new study published in Nature Geoscience shows the important role played by the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica in this transition. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-expansion-antarctic-bottom-contributed-ice.html Earth Sciences Mon, 01 Dec 2025 11:42:00 EST news683811638 While it is well known that climate change is heating the world's oceans, it was thought that the deep sea was safe from its effects—until now. Researchers have discovered that a rapidly warming part of the Atlantic is leading to the heating up of Arctic Ocean depths. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-climate-deepest-arctic-ocean.html Earth Sciences Thu, 20 Nov 2025 13:00:01 EST news682865647 Melting ice in the Arctic is causing an increasing amount of freshwater to enter the North Atlantic, which is expected to result in a weakening of the Atlantic overturning circulation. However, many modeling studies make unrealistic assumptions about how this water enters the ocean. A new study published in Ocean Modelling shows that the timing, location, and source of freshwater input can have a considerable impact on its eventual fate and should therefore be taken into account in future model experiments. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-amoc-realistic.html Earth Sciences Tue, 11 Nov 2025 15:04:03 EST news682095842 A new study published in the journal Nature Communications reveals that the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), a key driver of global climate variability, is projected to undergo a dramatic transformation due to greenhouse warming. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-climate-whiplash-effects-due-rapidly.html Earth Sciences Thu, 16 Oct 2025 10:09:03 EDT news679828141 As the planet warms, it risks crossing catastrophic tipping points: thresholds where Earth systems, such as ice sheets and rainforests, change irreversibly over human lifetimes. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-climate-scary-ice-sheets-oceans.html Environment Mon, 13 Oct 2025 11:05:05 EDT news679572301 The number of whales getting tangled up in fishing nets, line, buoys and other miscellaneous rope off the coasts of the United States hit a record high in 2024, with California taking the ignominious lead. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-whales-tangled-lines-ropes-california.html Plants & Animals Fri, 26 Sep 2025 06:01:31 EDT news678085286 On August 5, 2024, a marine heat wave began along the coast of Lofoten in Northern Norway. It lasted for 21 days, with sea temperatures measured at a record high. This caused salmon lice to thrive. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-storm-triggered-marine-salmon-lice.html Environment Thu, 21 Aug 2025 13:05:03 EDT news675000301 Hurricane Erin's massive footprint battered Caribbean islands with heavy gusts and downpours Monday, as it threatened rip currents and flooding along the US East Coast later this week even without a predicted landfall. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-hurricane-erin-drenches-caribbean-islands.html Environment Mon, 18 Aug 2025 14:23:27 EDT news674745802 Fisherman Alphonse Akadie was forced to exhume the bodies of his relatives last year from the village cemetery in Ivory Coast to avoid their remains being carried off into the ocean. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-ivory-coast-village-reburies-sea.html Environment Fri, 15 Aug 2025 03:30:27 EDT news674447420 Anomalies in temperature and salinity that originate in the midlatitude North Atlantic can affect the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) in the Nordic Seas up to a decade later. A new study published in Communications Earth & Environment shows that the anomalies that travel northward with the Atlantic Water are an important part of the system, and actively modulate both the inflow of warm water into the Nordic Seas and the overflow of dense water back into the deep Atlantic. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-ocean-anomalies-north-crucial-atlantic.html Earth Sciences Mon, 11 Aug 2025 11:39:04 EDT news674131142 For seaside communities reducing their pollution, nitrogen is a prime target. Often found in agricultural runoff and human waste, nitrogen and the nitrogen-containing nitrate molecule can enter coastal waters as a critical nutrient for algae. Its abundance leads to a surplus of algal blooms, upsetting delicate balances of plant and marine life. https://phys.org/news/2025-08-imperfect-underground-filter-wastewater-florida.html Environment Mon, 04 Aug 2025 17:13:42 EDT news673546409 How is ventilation at various depth layers of the Atlantic connected and what role do changes in ocean circulation play? Researchers from Bremen, Kiel and Edinburgh have pursued this question and their findings have now been published in Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-weaker-atlantic-currents-oxygen-tropical.html Earth Sciences Thu, 17 Jul 2025 10:51:25 EDT news671968279 From more frequent wildfires to rising sea levels, climate change is disrupting ecosystems and upending once-stable weather patterns. One particularly alarming consequence of rising global temperatures is the potential collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), a conveyor-belt-like system of ocean currents driven by the sinking of cold, salty waters in the North Atlantic. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-arctic-ice-bolstering-north-atlantic.html Earth Sciences Tue, 15 Jul 2025 06:40:02 EDT news671771783 Analysis of ancient core samples from the bottom of a lagoon in the Northern Territory suggests future monsoons across northern Australia will be more intense as the global climate warms further. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-ice-linked-monsoon.html Earth Sciences Wed, 09 Jul 2025 08:12:01 EDT news671267519 A patch of the Atlantic Ocean just south of Greenland is cooling while much of the world warms. The origin of this "cold blob" has been linked to weakening ocean currents that help regulate global climate—called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). A team of scientists led by Penn State has found a weakening AMOC impacts not just the ocean but also the atmosphere, and that these two factors may contribute equally to the cold anomaly. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-ocean-atmosphere-equally-responsible-atlantic.html Earth Sciences Tue, 01 Jul 2025 09:50:02 EDT news670581660 At this year's Living Planet Symposium, attendees heard how ESA's Next Generation Gravity Mission could provide the first opportunity to directly track a vital ocean circulation system that warms our planet—but is now weakening, risking a possible collapse with far-reaching consequences. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-gravity-mission-weakening-ocean-conveyor.html Earth Sciences Thu, 26 Jun 2025 15:10:04 EDT news670169014 In the last few decades, Arctic sea ice has receded ever further, including increasingly in winter when the extent of sea ice is at its most prominent. One of the main drivers of this development is thought to be the warming of Atlantic water that flows from Europe's Norwegian Sea into the Arctic Ocean, passing through the Barents Sea and the Fram Strait in the process. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-understudied-current-barents-sea-play.html Earth Sciences Mon, 23 Jun 2025 10:59:04 EDT news669895141 For more than a century, a patch of cold water south of Greenland has resisted the Atlantic Ocean's overall warming, fueling debate among scientists. A new study identifies the cause as the long-term weakening of a major ocean circulation system. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-strange-atlantic-cold-ocean-slowdown.html Earth Sciences Sat, 21 Jun 2025 06:30:02 EDT news669705863 One-quarter of freshwater animals are now threatened with extinction, and population declines in fresh waters outpace those in marine and terrestrial systems. Reports of salmonid fish decline are stark, with many populations and species listed as threatened or endangered. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-habitat-loss-exploitation-decline-salmon.html Ecology Mon, 16 Jun 2025 09:47:05 EDT news669286021 In a UNSW-led Nature study, researchers say that an off-the-scale marine heat wave in the North Atlantic Ocean in 2023 was caused by record-breaking weak winds combined with increased solar radiation—all on the back of ongoing climate change. https://phys.org/news/2025-06-scientists-reveal-drove-north-atlantic.html Earth Sciences Wed, 04 Jun 2025 11:00:08 EDT news668245141 The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) serves as the Atlantic Ocean's conveyor belt, transporting warm water north toward the Arctic Circle and returning cold, dense water back to the tropics. Nearshore areas off Greenland are critical sites in AMOC, influencing the redistribution of heat and nutrients around the world. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-greenland-glacial-troughs-ocean-circulation.html Earth Sciences Thu, 29 May 2025 12:18:54 EDT news667739927 With warmer than normal ocean waters, forecasters are expecting yet another unusually busy hurricane season for the Atlantic. But they don't think it will be as chaotic as 2024, the third-costliest season on record as it spawned killer storms Beryl, Helene and Milton. https://phys.org/news/2025-05-ready-busy-atlantic-hurricane-season.html Environment Thu, 22 May 2025 15:00:01 EDT news667144454