https://phys.org/earth-news/environment/ en-us The latest news on the environment, environmental issues, earth science and space exploration. Natural geological processes have been regulating Earth's climate for millions of years. Accelerated versions of these processes are now being promoted as technologies to draw down carbon from the atmosphere—and some are rapidly moving from concept to real-world deployments. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-technologies-natural-capture-carbon-durably.html Earth Sciences Fri, 22 May 2026 16:20:03 EDT news698673123 Thawing permafrost is rapidly transforming dozens of Arctic streams into acidic, metal-laden waterways, according to new research published in Science. The study shows how thawing permafrost exposes sulfide minerals that react with oxygen and water—a process similar to what occurs in mining pollution. The reactions release acidity and heavy metals such as zinc, nickel, cadmium, and aluminum into surrounding waters. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-arctic-unleashes-pollution-hundreds-waterways.html Earth Sciences Fri, 22 May 2026 16:00:02 EDT news698673001 Rice feeds more than half the world. From terraced paddies in Southeast Asia to irrigated fields in China and India, it underpins daily meals for billions of people. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-rice-billions-people-role-fueling.html Earth Sciences Fri, 22 May 2026 11:20:05 EDT news698662981 A Nature Sustainability paper titled "A multidimensional assessment of Systemic Cooling Poverty in the Global South," provides the first large-scale, multidimensional measurement of Systemic Cooling Poverty (SCP)—defined as situations in which individuals are "prevented from attaining thermal safety as a result of intersecting forms of systemic deprivation." https://phys.org/news/2026-05-vulnerability-temperature-global-exposes-overlooked.html Environment Fri, 22 May 2026 10:09:24 EDT news698663326 Forecasters say a potentially "super" El Niño is rapidly taking shape in the Pacific—but whether it evolves into a history-making event could hinge on fickle winds and other volatile atmospheric shifts. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-scientists-potential-super-el-nino.html Earth Sciences Fri, 22 May 2026 04:18:14 EDT news698642211 Two-thirds of Americans want action on climate change, but people vastly underestimate public support for climate solutions and policy. Historically, U.S. news outlets overrepresented views on climate change that went against scientific consensus. If news outlets are similarly overrepresenting opposition to climate policy, it could explain the discrepancy between public support and perception. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-television-news-coverage-climate-policy.html Environment Thu, 21 May 2026 18:40:01 EDT news698595061 A new international study led by Lander Van Tricht (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, ETH Zürich), shows that glaciers in Central Asia experienced their most extreme mass-loss year on record in 2025, designated as the International Year of Glaciers Preservation by the United Nations, following an initiative from Tajikistan. The findings are published in the journal Environmental Research Letters. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-central-asia-ice-loss-millions.html Earth Sciences Thu, 21 May 2026 14:40:06 EDT news698586122 New research from the University of St Andrews has precisely dated an eruption from Newberry Volcano and discovered that its ash spread more than 5,000 km across the globe, far further than previously thought for an eruption of its size. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-ice-core-discovery-volcanic-eruptions.html Earth Sciences Thu, 21 May 2026 09:20:02 EDT news698401005 NASA scientists have developed an artificial intelligence tool to take on a longstanding challenge in ocean waters. In a study recently published in the Earth and Space Science journal, researchers reported the tool was able to fuse data from multiple satellites and detect harmful algal blooms that occurred in western Florida and Southern California. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-ai-tool-fuses-satellite-datasets.html Earth Sciences Wed, 20 May 2026 18:00:05 EDT news698513041 For decades, environmental debates have been framed around a stark trade-off: economic growth lifts people out of poverty but comes at the expense of forests, wildlife, and climate stability. More people and richer diets mean more farmland and less nature. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-economic-growth-income-countries-biodiversity.html Environment Wed, 20 May 2026 17:20:01 EDT news698507521 Cities don't just change the landscape, they change the weather. According to a new study analyzing tens of thousands of rain events in Texas, whether urban areas make rain worse, lighter or simply different depends strongly on the type of storm. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-cities-storms-impacts-storm.html Environment Wed, 20 May 2026 16:40:05 EDT news698506981 Aerosols and clouds play a key role in Earth's climate budget. However, the extent to which they reflect solar energy depends heavily on how much water the particles can absorb. This so-called hygroscopicity has so far been represented in a simplified manner in climate models. An international research team led by the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) has now demonstrated through a global study that the models are not precise enough, particularly in urban regions. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-urban-aerosols-faster-polluted-air.html Earth Sciences Wed, 20 May 2026 16:00:10 EDT news698501755 Sea level rise is a direct consequence of human-induced climate change: global warming. It is relentless and very hard to stop. It arises from human-induced warming and the consequential expansion of the ocean, plus the addition of more and more water from melting glaciers and ice sheets. It will continue long into the future. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-scientists-knowledge-sea.html Earth Sciences Wed, 20 May 2026 14:00:07 EDT news698493661 Old oil and gas wells may continue to affect the environment long after they have stopped producing, with new field evidence showing that their leakage footprint can be broader and more persistent than surface methane measurements alone reveal. A study led by researchers at The Lyell Centre, Heriot-Watt University, examined persistent methane leakage from a legacy petroleum well in British Columbia, Canada. The team found that while methane emissions at the ground surface were concentrated in a relatively small area and varied through time, the leakage also left a wider detectable signature in the shallow subsurface and surrounding soils. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-field-evidence-canada-wells-hidden.html Earth Sciences Wed, 20 May 2026 12:44:20 EDT news698499741 The world's forests form a vast network of carbon reservoirs, keeping carbon sequestered from the atmosphere where its presence is disrupting Earth's climate systems. Many corporate, national and state climate policies rely on forests' ability to store carbon—often tracked and funded through a system of "carbon credits" issued to polluting industries in exchange for protecting and restoring forests. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-carbon-underestimate-forests-climate.html Environment Wed, 20 May 2026 11:00:13 EDT news698407681 Plastic food packaging, caps and lids, and plastic bottles are the planet's predominant items of marine litter, according to the world's first overview of marine litter by usage type. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-food-plastics-dominate-marine-litter.html Environment Wed, 20 May 2026 11:00:06 EDT news698420042 According to NOAA, the global average sea level has risen 8–9 inches (21–24 centimeters) since 1880. The rate at which the sea level is rising is increasing, threatening coastal cities and ecosystems around the world. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-cloud-sun-centuries-sea.html Earth Sciences Tue, 19 May 2026 12:45:13 EDT news698413433 It may sound counterintuitive, but new research suggests that cleaning up air pollution could contribute to a weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). This is the ocean current system that acts like a giant conveyor belt, moving warm surface water northward and cool deep water southward. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-climate-air-pollution-key-atlantic.html Earth Sciences Tue, 19 May 2026 12:40:02 EDT news698411936 It was the hardest field trip they had ever been on, but the result was both surprising and exciting. After hiking 9 kilometers with a 400-meter elevation gain and carrying heavy backpacks through very rocky terrain, the researchers spent more than 24 hours in the field and returned with sediment samples from the lake Stuptjørna. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-brutal-field-insights-arctic-winter.html Earth Sciences Tue, 19 May 2026 12:00:04 EDT news698408102 Scientists are jettisoning their worst and best case scenarios for a warming world as no longer plausible. That shows how modest gains in the fight to curb climate change have dialed back the most catastrophic of future heating but also confirmed that there's no chance to limit warming to the international goal set in 2015. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-climate-world-wont-hot-limit.html Environment Tue, 19 May 2026 09:24:41 EDT news698401408 Tidal wetlands are critical, yet vulnerable ecosystems. Tidal marshes, mangrove forests, and tidal flats support biodiversity, protect against flooding and storm surges, sequester carbon, and improve water quality. Due to human development and climate change, tidal wetland areas have been shrinking globally. A new study using 40 years of satellite data shows that this loss has been accelerating in the U.S. and that this acceleration is being increasingly driven by extreme weather events. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-extreme-weather-events-tidal-wetland.html Earth Sciences Tue, 19 May 2026 05:00:06 EDT news698325841 Across the western United States, wildfires are increasing in size and intensity. As the climate continues to warm, more extreme wildfires will reshape landscapes and pose a growing risk to human health and natural ecosystems throughout the West. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-worse-western-wildfires.html Earth Sciences Mon, 18 May 2026 22:00:03 EDT news698318208 Ghost forests, the cemetery-like groupings of dead trees killed by saltwater intrusion, have become haunting symbols of sea level rise overtaking land along the Mid-Atlantic coast. But a new study published in Nature Sustainability, led by William & Mary's Batten School & VIMS, points to even more dramatic land losses in the region's coastal farmlands, where the rate of marsh encroachment is happening nearly twice as fast. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-sea-swallowing-mid-atlantic-farmland.html Earth Sciences Mon, 18 May 2026 18:10:01 EDT news698343001 Researchers at National Taiwan University and partner institutions have uncovered new evidence that Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW)—a distinct layer sitting 500–1,500 meters below the ocean surface—played a pivotal role in a major atmospheric carbon dioxide transition that occurred roughly 450,000 years ago. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-southern-ocean-intermediate-key-earth.html Earth Sciences Mon, 18 May 2026 16:00:06 EDT news698327881 Within the Canadian Shield, hydrogen gas is steadily building up naturally among some of the oldest rocks on Earth. Now, for the first time, geochemists at the University of Toronto and the University of Ottawa have measured its presence, mapped its concentration and tracked its long-term accumulation, shedding new light on this source of natural, or white, hydrogen. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-white-hydrogen-billion-year-canadian.html Earth Sciences Mon, 18 May 2026 15:00:10 EDT news698317793 Densely populated coastal regions in many parts of the world are particularly vulnerable to flooding. The sinking of land masses exacerbates the impacts of rising sea levels in these areas, according to a study by researchers from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and Tulane University. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-sea-areas-due-subsidence.html Earth Sciences Mon, 18 May 2026 12:20:01 EDT news698321821 Green-blue adaptation (climate adaptation based on green and water spaces), which uses green and water spaces such as creating urban parks and restoring wetlands, is considered a representative climate adaptation strategy to reduce flood and heat wave damage in cities in the era of climate crisis. However, an international research team has proven for the first time with continent-scale data that such climate adaptation policies can paradoxically stimulate housing price increases and population influx, thereby worsening the housing instability of existing low-income residents. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-climate-gentrification-african-cities-continent.html Environment Mon, 18 May 2026 11:20:11 EDT news698318941 Hydrogen gas formed by natural processes in the subsurface of mountain ranges could represent a promising source of clean energy. A new international study led by Unil and GFZ shows that erosion plays a key and complex role in the formation and accumulation of this natural resource. The research confirms that the Pyrenees and the Alps could constitute key targets for natural hydrogen exploration. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-hidden-energy-mountains-erosion-hydrogen.html Earth Sciences Mon, 18 May 2026 09:00:02 EDT news698057821 Tropical forests, often described as the lungs of the planet, may be edging closer to a dangerous threshold as droughts become more frequent and widespread across the world's humid tropics. New research suggests these ecosystems are increasingly struggling to recover from prolonged dry conditions, raising concerns that some forests could eventually shift from absorbing carbon dioxide to releasing it back into the atmosphere. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-droughts-tropical-forests-dangerous-threshold.html Earth Sciences Mon, 18 May 2026 08:40:01 EDT news698071491 For years, scientists have warned that melting Antarctic ice could push sea levels dangerously higher by the end of this century. But a new study led by University of Maryland scientist Madeleine Youngs suggests those warnings may still be too conservative because they leave out a crucial factor: the ocean's own complex circulatory system. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-scientists-hidden-antarctic-ice-loss.html Earth Sciences Fri, 15 May 2026 14:40:01 EDT news698071801