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Earth Sciences news
Why is Mount Everest so big? New research highlights a rogue river—but deeper forces are at work
Mount Everest (also known as Chomolungma or Sagarmāthā) is famously the highest mountain in the Himalayas and indeed on Earth. But why?
Earth Sciences
17 hours ago
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Limestone and iron reveal puzzling extreme rain in Western Australia 100,000 years ago
Almost one-sixth of Earth's land surface is covered in otherworldly landscapes with a name that may also be unfamiliar: karst. These landscapes are like natural sculpture parks, with dramatic terrain dotted with caves and ...
Earth Sciences
Oct 5, 2024
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Capturing finer-scale topographic differences improves Earth system model capability to reproduce observations
Earth system models (ESMs), used in climate simulations and projections, typically use grids of 50–200 km resolution. These are considered relatively coarse with limited ability to resolve land surface variability.
Earth Sciences
Oct 4, 2024
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Researchers investigate changes in atmospheric CO₂ levels between glacial and interglacial climates
Paleoclimate scientists are trying to understand the causes of the ~90 parts per million (ppmv) atmospheric CO2 swings between glacial and interglacial climates. Even though these cycles between cold and warm periods seem ...
Earth Sciences
Oct 4, 2024
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Better monitoring of mining remediation: Selenium isotopes are good gauge of clean-up efforts
A new testing technique developed using synchrotron light could significantly improve how we monitor the effectiveness of remediation practices for removing selenium contamination from mining activities.
Earth Sciences
Oct 4, 2024
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Extensive afforestation and reforestation can brake global warming
The Paris Agreement calls on us to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. To reach this goal, we need to reduce CO₂ emissions and remove existing CO₂ from the atmosphere.
Earth Sciences
Oct 4, 2024
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Climate lessons from the fall of a Pacific chiefdom
A study reveals that new dates for an ancient site in the Pacific correlate with sea level rise and El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) variability.
Earth Sciences
Oct 4, 2024
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Some microbes used poison gas in battle for iron in the Earth's early oceans, geomicrobiologists find
Early in the Earth's development, the atmosphere contained no oxygen. Yet the iron dissolved in the oceans was oxidized in gigantic quantities and deposited as rock. It can be seen today, for example, as banded iron ore in ...
Earth Sciences
Oct 4, 2024
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Antarctic 'greening' at dramatic rate, satellite data show
Vegetation cover across the Antarctic Peninsula has increased more than 10-fold over the last four decades, new research shows.
Earth Sciences
Oct 4, 2024
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Research links El Niño to Atlantic weather a year later, could enhance long-range weather forecasting
New research has revealed that the impact of one of the world's most influential global climate patterns is much more far-reaching than originally thought.
Earth Sciences
Oct 4, 2024
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Study: Wildfires will make the land absorb much less carbon, even if warming is kept below 1.5°C
One of the aims of the Paris Agreement was to "pursue efforts" to keep global warming below 1.5°C, but even this ambitious target would not stop the land's ability to absorb carbon weakening as wildfires become fiercer and ...
Earth Sciences
Oct 3, 2024
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Mathematicians and climate researchers build new models for understanding polar sea ice
Polar sea ice is ever-changing. It shrinks, expands, moves, breaks apart, reforms in response to changing seasons, and rapid climate change. It is far from a homogenous layer of frozen water on the ocean's surface, but rather ...
Earth Sciences
Oct 3, 2024
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Five-mile asteroid impact crater below Atlantic captured in 'exquisite' detail by seismic data
New images of an asteroid impact crater buried deep below the floor of the Atlantic Ocean have been published today by researchers at Heriot-Watt University.
Earth Sciences
Oct 3, 2024
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Miami-Dade study questions reliability of land surface temperature for heat risk assessment
A study published in the journal PLOS Climate on October 2, 2024, examines the effectiveness of using land surface temperatures (LSTs) as proxies for surface air temperatures (SATs) in subtropical, seasonally wet regions.
Earth Sciences
Oct 3, 2024
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Climate change is causing algal blooms in Lake Superior for the first time in history
Lake Superior is known for its pristine waters, but a combination of nutrient additions from increasing human activity (including farming and development), warming temperatures and stormy conditions have resulted in more ...
Earth Sciences
Oct 3, 2024
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Decades-long research reveals new understanding of how climate change may impact caches of Arctic soil carbon
Utilizing one of the longest-running ecosystem experiments in the Arctic, a Colorado State University-led team of researchers has developed a better understanding of the interplay among plants, microbes and soil nutrients—findings ...
Earth Sciences
Oct 3, 2024
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Geological surveys shed light on the formation mystery of Uruguay's amethyst geodes
Amethyst is a violet variety of quartz that has been used as a gemstone for many centuries and is a key economic resource in northern Uruguay. Geodes are hollow rock formations often with quartz crystals, such as amethyst, ...
Earth Sciences
Oct 3, 2024
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Closer look at New Jersey earthquake rupture could explain shaking reports
The magnitude 4.8 Tewksbury earthquake surprised millions of people on the U.S. East Coast who felt the shaking from this largest instrumentally recorded earthquake in New Jersey since 1900.
Earth Sciences
Oct 2, 2024
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Iron nuggets in the Pinnacles unlock secrets of ancient and future climates
Small iron-rich formations found within Western Australia's Pinnacles, which are part of the world's largest wind-blown limestone belt spanning more than 1,000km, have provided new insights into Earth's ancient climate and ...
Earth Sciences
Oct 2, 2024
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How would California's skyscrapers survive a huge earthquake? LA County is about to find out
Faced with the prospect of an extensive, and expensive, seismic safety retrofit for its 1960s-era downtown headquarters, L.A. County decided to vet an alternative: a far newer building, located just blocks away. Not only ...
Earth Sciences
Oct 2, 2024
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