Droughts, as a research topic, encompass the characterization, drivers, impacts, and prediction of prolonged periods of abnormally low water availability in the atmosphere, soil, and hydrological systems. Scientific study distinguishes meteorological, agricultural, hydrological, and socio-economic droughts, often quantified using indices such as the Standardized Precipitation Index or Palmer Drought Severity Index. Research investigates land–atmosphere feedbacks, large-scale circulation anomalies, soil moisture deficits, vegetation stress, and groundwater depletion, as well as the modulation of drought frequency, duration, and intensity by climate variability and anthropogenic climate change, with implications for water resources management, ecosystem functioning, and risk assessment.
A collaboration of scientists from NASA and Brazilian research institutions has produced a detailed picture of groundwater change across Brazil. The images reveal significant declines in some of the aquifers that are critical ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 8, 2026
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15
Agriculture today is a massive, globally interconnected industry. That interconnectivity has brought jobs and varied foods to people who might not otherwise be able to access them.
Ecology
Jun 8, 2026
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17
Fire began crackling like approaching rain on a recent morning in the Xerente Indigenous Territory in Tocantins in northern Brazil. But the Indigenous residents weren't afraid and didn't rush to put it out.
Environment
Jun 7, 2026
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13
Large volcanic eruptions may have played a bigger role in triggering historical famines across China than previously understood, according to a new study that traced links between eruptions, climate disruption, and food shortages ...
For decades, the United States made steady progress in reducing surface ozone pollution, the main ingredient in smog. But that progress—made as vehicles, industries, and power sources became cleaner—is increasingly being ...
Environment
Jun 5, 2026
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9
You may have heard the rumors of a "monster El Niño." It's not the first time we've heard forecasts like this in Australia, but this time, they aren't coming out of nowhere. Early signs in the Pacific have been building for ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 4, 2026
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150
The Amazon rainforest responded to the most severe drought ever recorded in the basin with an unexpected defense mechanism. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany, found that during and after ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 2, 2026
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61
Mid-latitude Asian drylands, stretching from Central Asia to northern China, are among the largest dryland systems in the world. Home to extensive agricultural activities and fragile ecosystems, the region is highly vulnerable ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 1, 2026
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16
The Indian monsoon has shifted over the past quarter century. Northwest India now receives substantially more rain than it once did, while a lack of rain sends the Indo-Gangetic Plain toward drought.
Earth Sciences
Jun 1, 2026
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836
New research by scientists at the University of Calgary has found that plants, ranging from canola to rice to tomatoes, actively shut down their own ability to take up iron when they experience drought. It's a finding that ...
Ecology
Jun 1, 2026
0
16
