http://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. We moan about the wet weather all too often but it may have been crucial in the development of human culture from about 70,000 years onwards, according to scientists reporting in Nature Communications today. http://phys.org/news288354109.html Space & Earth Tue, 21 May 2013 11:22:24 EST news288354109 In the last thirty years, vegetation has changed significantly the world over. Until recently, the extent to which the climate or humankind was responsible remained unclear. However, geographers from the University of Zurich and colleagues from the Netherlands now reveal that over half of these changes are climatological, humans or as yet unknown human-climate interactions cause over a third and around ten percent cannot be explained fully by either the climate or human activity. http://phys.org/news285323022.html Space & Earth Tue, 16 Apr 2013 09:23:57 EST news285323022 Canadian agriculture is faced with great opportunities, but also challenged by water-related risks and uncertainties. An expert panel convened by the Council of Canadian Academies has found that water and land resources in Canada can be more sustainably managed by developing forward-thinking policies and effective land and water management strategies, adopting effective governance mechanisms, and harnessing technological advancements. http://phys.org/news281090721.html Space & Earth Tue, 26 Feb 2013 08:45:32 EST news281090721 The Australian landscape soaked up one third of the carbon emitted by fossil fuels in Australia over the past twenty years, according to a new CSIRO study released last week. http://phys.org/news280570085.html Space & Earth Wed, 20 Feb 2013 08:20:02 EST news280570085 A new study, conducted specifically to explore the forces driving extreme weather events and their implications for national security planning over the next decade, finds that the early ramifications of climate extremes resulting from climate change are already upon us and will continue to be felt over the next decade, directly impacting US national security interests. http://phys.org/news279811570.html Space & Earth Mon, 11 Feb 2013 13:26:18 EST news279811570 (Phys.org)—The western Antarctic Peninsula is one of the fastest warming regions on the planet, and the fastest warming part of the Southern Hemisphere. http://phys.org/news278058337.html Space & Earth Tue, 22 Jan 2013 06:25:49 EST news278058337 (Phys.org)—With more than 40 million people living under exceptional drought conditions in East Africa, the ability to make accurate predictions of drought has never been more important. In the aftermath of widespread famine and a humanitarian crisis caused by the 2010-2011 drought in the Horn of Africa—possibly the worst drought in 60 years— researchers are striving to determine whether drying trends will continue. http://phys.org/news277718948.html Space & Earth Fri, 18 Jan 2013 08:09:16 EST news277718948 (Phys.org)—Off the coast of Antarctica, a 4-foot-long, bright yellow tube is drifting through the Southern Ocean and collecting scientific data on the frigid surrounding water. http://phys.org/news277633824.html Space & Earth Thu, 17 Jan 2013 08:32:02 EST news277633824 (Phys.org)—An international team of climate researchers has written and published an open letter in the journal Nature Climate Change, describing wind and wave pattern changes expected to come about due to global warming. In their letter, they suggest that much of the southern hemisphere will see increased winds along with higher waves, while the northern hemisphere will see the opposite. http://phys.org/news277370493.html Space & Earth Mon, 14 Jan 2013 07:40:02 EST news277370493 (Phys.org)—Today the U.S. Geological Survey announced that Landsat 5 will be decommissioned over the coming months, bringing to a close the longest-operating Earth observing satellite mission in history.  By any measure, the Landsat 5 mission has been an extraordinary success, providing unprecedented contributions to the global record of land change. The USGS has brought the aging satellite back from the brink of failure on several occasions, but the recent failure of a gyroscope has left no option but to end the mission.  http://phys.org/news276415751.html Space & Earth Thu, 03 Jan 2013 06:09:20 EST news276415751 Australia should prepare now for dry times ahead by 'banking' its water underground when rainfall is plentiful, according to an important new scientific study. http://phys.org/news273231864.html Space & Earth Tue, 27 Nov 2012 10:30:01 EST news273231864 (Phys.org)—New research by Martin Todd, Professor in Climate Change at the University of Sussex, Dr Richard Taylor (University College London) and colleagues from the Tanzanian government and British Geological Survey in semi-arid Tanzania has found that very heavy rainfall that accompanies the El Niño phenomenon is vital for recharging underground aquifers in the region. http://phys.org/news271929137.html Space & Earth Mon, 12 Nov 2012 07:52:23 EST news271929137 A study led by some University of Barcelona researchers analyses the impact of interannual and seasonal climate variability on the fires occurred in Catalonia last summer. The study concludes that summer fires, related to summer climate conditions, are correlated with antecedent climate conditions, especially winter and spring ones with a lag time of two years. The results suggest that precipitation and temperature conditions regulate fuel flammability and fuel structure. According to the correlations observed, the study provides a model to produce long-term predictions. http://phys.org/news269933686.html Space & Earth Sat, 20 Oct 2012 06:35:35 EST news269933686 The Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) has worked closely with CARE and the United Nations University to develop a series of maps illustrating results from case studies in eight countries for the Where the Rain Falls project. The project aims to illustrate the relationship between rainfall variability and human vulnerability in the context of a changing climate, livelihoods, and migration as a strategic response. http://phys.org/news266572001.html Space & Earth Tue, 11 Sep 2012 08:47:14 EST news266572001 Ancient pollen and charcoal preserved in deeply buried sediments in Egypt's Nile Delta document the region's ancient droughts and fires, including a huge drought 4,200 years ago associated with the demise of Egypt's Old Kingdom, the era known as the pyramid-building time. http://phys.org/news264333845.html Space & Earth Thu, 16 Aug 2012 11:20:02 EST news264333845 Aside from market fluctuations and changes in commodity prices, climate variability is the greatest threat to the long-term economic viability of dryland farms. In order to counter these uncertainties, many farmers have turned to diversification as a short-term survival strategy, but little research exists on the long-term benefits. http://phys.org/news261212977.html Biology Wed, 11 Jul 2012 08:09:47 EST news261212977 An international team that includes scientists from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) has published a reconstruction of the climate in northern Europe over the last 2,000 years based on the information provided by tree-rings. http://phys.org/news261048731.html Space & Earth Mon, 09 Jul 2012 10:32:20 EST news261048731 (Phys.org) -- The dramatic melt-off of Arctic sea ice due to climate change is hitting closer to home than millions of Americans might think. That's because melting Arctic sea ice can trigger a domino effect leading to increased odds of severe winter weather outbreaks in the Northern Hemisphere's middle latitudes -- think the "Snowmageddon" storm that hamstrung Washington, D.C., during February 2010. http://phys.org/news258179454.html Space & Earth Wed, 06 Jun 2012 05:31:43 EST news258179454 Big trees three or more feet in diameter accounted for nearly half the biomass measured at a Yosemite National Park site, yet represented only one percent of the trees growing there. http://phys.org/news255192036.html Space & Earth Wed, 02 May 2012 17:20:07 EST news255192036 The Arizona-Sonora region has been called the front line of ongoing climate change, with global climate models projecting severe precipitation decreases and temperature increases coupled with vulnerability from urbanization, industrialization and agricultural intensification. http://phys.org/news253872113.html Space & Earth Tue, 17 Apr 2012 09:20:06 EST news253872113 An analysis of the remains of ancient midges – tiny non-biting insects closely related to mosquitoes – opens a new window on the past with a detailed view of the surprising regional variability that accompanied climate warming during the early Holocene epoch, 10,000 to 5,500 years ago. http://phys.org/news240490516.html Space & Earth Mon, 14 Nov 2011 15:00:08 EST news240490516 An international team of scientists, led by Dr Stephen Barker of Cardiff University, has produced a prediction of what climate records from Greenland might look like over the last 800,000 years. http://phys.org/news234709122.html Space & Earth Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:00:15 EST news234709122 Although Arctic sea ice appears fated to melt as the climate continues to warm, the ice may temporarily stabilize or somewhat expand at times over the next few decades, new research indicates. http://phys.org/news232282769.html Space & Earth Thu, 11 Aug 2011 11:59:49 EST news232282769 For 20 000 years, climate variability in East Africa has been following a pattern that is evidently a remote effect of the ENSO phenomenon (El Niño Southern Oscillation) known as El Niño/La Niña. During the cold phase of La Niña, there is marginal rainfall and stronger winds in East Africa, while the El Niño warm phase leads to weak wind conditions with frequent rain. Moreover, during the coldest period of the last ice age about 18 000 to 21 000 years ago, East Africa's climate was relatively stable and dry. This result was published by an international group of researchers from Potsdam, Switzerland, the United States, the Netherlands and Belgium in the latest issue of the journal "Science" (Vol. 333, No.6043, 05.08.2011). http://phys.org/news231687059.html Space & Earth Thu, 04 Aug 2011 15:00:03 EST news231687059 The human impact on the environment, especially through the release of greenhouse gases, is an area of controversy in public understanding of climate change, and is important for predicting future changes. Many studies into our collective impact use climate models to understand the causes of observed climate changes, both globally and in specific regions. Writing in WIREs Climate Change, Professors Gabriele Hegerl from the University of Edinburgh and Francis Zwiers from the University of Victoria assess the role of climate models in studies of observed changes and the robustness of their results. http://phys.org/news226573855.html Space & Earth Mon, 06 Jun 2011 10:11:24 EST news226573855 Trees are outstanding historians. In fact, scientists dating back to Leonardo da Vinci recognized the value of trees. While others had figured out that you could determine the age of a tree by counting its growth rings, da Vinci went beyond that basic knowledge. http://phys.org/news221156856.html Space & Earth Mon, 04 Apr 2011 17:27:59 EST news221156856 Tiny organisms preserved in marine sediments hold clues about Arctic climate variation during an ancient episode of greenhouse warming. http://phys.org/news216646139.html Space & Earth Fri, 11 Feb 2011 11:30:48 EST news216646139 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new study of an ocean sediment core taken from deep water off the coast of the western Antarctic Peninsula is beginning to fill in some of the gaps in our knowledge of climate variability in the region. http://phys.org/news216547952.html Space & Earth Thu, 10 Feb 2011 08:12:55 EST news216547952 Ancient tree rings show links between climate change and major events in human history, like migrations, plagues and the rise and fall of empires, said a study this week in the journal Science. http://phys.org/news214250034.html Space & Earth Fri, 14 Jan 2011 17:54:27 EST news214250034 For more than a decade, Dr. Joseph Ortiz, associate professor of geology at Kent State University and part of an international team of National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded researchers, has been studying long-term climate variability associated with El Niño. The researchers' goal is to help climatologists better understand this global climate phenomenon that happens every two to eight years, impacting much of the world. http://phys.org/news210522629.html Space & Earth Thu, 02 Dec 2010 14:30:41 EST news210522629