Last update:
Environment news
Global soil erosion outpaces natural recovery, report warns
Isaac Larsen, an associate professor in the College of Natural Sciences' Department of Earth, Geographic, and Climate Sciences, is a lead author of "Status of the World's Soil Resources 2026," a new report produced by the ...
Earth Sciences
3 minutes ago
0
0
Forests are dying along North Carolina's coast—and it's speeding up
A new study finds that coastal forest loss in North Carolina's Albemarle-Pamlico Peninsula began accelerating after 2010 and may still be speeding up. The study also found that North Carolina lost more than 20% of its coastal ...
Environment
2 hours ago
0
0
Long-term logging experiment reveals how protecting the forest floor helps preserve soil carbon
Forest soils store an estimated 40% of the world's terrestrial carbon, but estimates suggest that around 15–30% of that soil carbon is lost when a forest is harvested. Tracking such losses can be tricky: wildfires, insects, ...
Earth Sciences
3 hours ago
0
0
Detecting forever chemicals—with yeast and AI
If you're reading this, your body probably contains forever chemicals.
Environment
5 hours ago
0
6
Why Great Plains rivers depend on wetlands as well as climate
When a prairie river carries more water in one year than another, the obvious place to look for an explanation is the sky. A year with more snow and rain should have more water in rivers. That was also how I initially thought ...
'Flying rivers' above South America form drainage networks resembling those on land
Water does not flow only through rivers on the ground. Vast quantities of water also move through the atmosphere, carried by winds from oceans and land before eventually falling as precipitation hundreds or even thousands ...
Earth Sciences
8 hours ago
0
9
Kauri dieback threatens more than trees—it could change how much carbon forests store
Kauri are among Aotearoa New Zealand's tallest and longest-lived trees—and their place in our cultural landscape looms equally large.
Earth Sciences
10 hours ago
0
6
Extreme heat putting pregnant women, newborns at risk: UN climate chief
Extreme heat is putting pregnant mothers and their newborns at increasing risk, United Nations climate chief Simon Stiell will warn on Monday.
Environment
17 hours ago
0
12
A climate threat may lurk beneath Antarctica's last great unknown
A region of Antarctica with some of the greatest potential to reshape the natural world and human society is also the least scientifically understood and explored.
Earth Sciences
Oct 4, 2026
0
66
Heat-trapping gas once frozen in Arctic ground is slowly leaking and warming the planet
As Ted Schuur stepped along the edges of Smith Lake, a bubble surfaced from the muck underfoot. And then another. They're bubbles of methane, a potent heat-trapping gas made from decomposing plants and animals that had once ...
Environment
Oct 4, 2026
0
51
Hungary's dwindling paprika producers battle to save signature spice
Working from before dawn until midnight, farmers Nikoletta Pajsan Nagy and Laszlo Pajsan fought Europe's driest summer ever to save their red pepper harvest in Hungary.
Environment
Oct 4, 2026
0
23
Cry for help as French-Swiss lake dries up
The picturesque Lac des Brenets between France and Switzerland has dried up after a record-breaking hot summer, leaving locals crying out for help to save the lake.
Environment
Oct 4, 2026
0
127
How can the same El Niño cause drought in one part of the world and floods in another?
The Pacific Ocean is warming unusually quickly, and this year's El Niño has already surpassed previous records. Forecasters expect it to strengthen even further before approaching its usual peak around December.
Environment
Oct 3, 2026
0
62
Today's emissions choices could limit Antarctic ice loss and sea-level rise for coastal communities
Cutting greenhouse gas emissions now may limit how much ice Antarctica loses this century and reduce the sea-level rise facing coastal communities, according to findings from a new study.
Earth Sciences
Oct 3, 2026
0
191
When the atmosphere slows the Earth: Uncovering a subtle signal of climate change
Atmospheric circulation governs weather and climate, but it also carries angular momentum. When winds shift or mass redistributes, the atmosphere can exchange momentum with the solid Earth, slightly altering the planet's ...
Sea levels to rise in California as a coastal wave surges up the West Coast
Sea levels in California are set to rise by as much as a foot (30 centimeters) in the coming days as an enormous wave washes up the U.S. West Coast.
Environment
Oct 3, 2026
0
38
Small changes can have a big impact on sustainability transitions
In her dissertation, Hanna Entsalo examines how public policies, such as policy strategies and legislation, influence transitions toward the circular economy and sustainability. Entsalo works as a researcher in the Circular ...
Environment
Oct 2, 2026
0
11
Scientists zero in on tiny particles to improve weather and air quality forecasts
Aerosols are small particles suspended in our atmosphere. They come in many flavors: Wildfire smoke, pollen, desert dust, sea salt lofted by powerful storms, volcanic sulfates and emissions from engines and industrial processes ...
Earth Sciences
Oct 2, 2026
0
54
Forestry experts author national guidance on disaster preparedness
John Daigle, professor of forest recreation management at the University of Maine, co-authored the first paper in a series designed to help communities nationwide prepare for future natural disasters and other extreme weather ...
Environment
Oct 2, 2026
0
7
Ancient sea levels reveal when the Earth's poles went wandering
Earth's poles do not always stay in the same place. For example, a region once near the North Pole can end up near the equator, and an area near the equator can shift up toward the pole. This is known as true polar wander ...
More news
Nepal disaster highlights risks for NZ mountains
In Alaska, soil in permafrost regions is warming the fastest
EarthCARE's view of volcanic plume boosts air safety
How cities and extreme rainfall shape each other
Empty nets in Latin America as fish flee El Niño
Other news
New saber-toothed predator from Argentina suggests its lineage survived longer than believed
A novel path to fusion ignition: Heat first, then add fuel
Quantum systems never quite forget where they came from
Atomic motion could help push solar cells beyond conventional limits
Rare insect discovery reveals a new species from the dinosaur age
