https://phys.org/earth-news/ en-us Earth science research, climate change, and global warming. The latest news and updates from Phys.org In a review article recently published in the journal Earth-Science Reviews, researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW), in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Leicester (United Kingdom), report on how human activity has altered Earth's sediments over the decades. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-microplastics-sediment-decades-human-worldwide.html Earth Sciences Thu, 22 Oct 2026 16:20:19 EDT news711901381 A new study underscores the extent to which digital policies cannot be separated from energy policies. The research evaluates the relationship between information communication technologies and carbon dioxide emissions and finds that the variables the researchers used as proxies for digitalization were associated with increased emissions. The paper, "ICT and CO₂ Emissions in the G20: A Channel-Based Mediation Analysis," is published in the journal Sustainability. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-highlights-policymakers-digital-policies-energy.html Environment Thu, 22 Oct 2026 16:00:14 EDT news711881117 With a stroke of a pen, President Donald Trump has officially created the United States' 64th national park. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-chiricahua-nation-national.html Environment Thu, 22 Oct 2026 15:40:01 EDT news711880220 As the climate gets warmer, the number of particles that make up clouds in the Arctic may increase or decrease, depending on the specific area. A new study indicates that the Arctic should be divided into three parts rather than considered as a whole. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-years-size-view-arctic-cloud.html Earth Sciences Thu, 22 Oct 2026 15:20:18 EDT news711900301 In Australia, the days are growing longer and summer is fast approaching. But a very strong El Niño—a natural weather phenomenon that drives variations in temperature and winds across the Pacific—could make this summer a sweltering one. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-entire-cities-extreme-reveals.html Environment Thu, 22 Oct 2026 15:20:02 EDT news711880157 Two thousand years ago, the Arctic remnants of a once-vast ice sheet started to grow again. It was the beginning of a new glacial period, more conversationally known as the next ice age—but by the 1960s, summer temperatures were already so high that the ice sheet started to shrink. In other words, global warming ended a period of glaciation that had already begun. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-global-halted-emerging-ice-age.html Earth Sciences Thu, 22 Oct 2026 14:00:10 EDT news711882661 New research from the University of St Andrews has uncovered a previously unknown process that may have helped drive Earth into past ice ages. Published today (Oct. 22) in the Journal of Climate, the paper links ice sheets in the Northern Hemisphere to changes in ocean circulation and sea ice in the Southern Hemisphere understood to drive down atmospheric CO₂. Linking these two key features of the ice ages has long been a challenge, given how far apart the two regions are. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-earth-hemispheres-ice-ages.html Earth Sciences Thu, 22 Oct 2026 14:00:06 EDT news711733921 When a climate disaster happens, people thousands of miles away may encounter it through numbers: how many people died, how many were displaced, how many homes were destroyed and how much infrastructure was damaged. But for the people living through it, the disaster is not a data set. It is a home, a family, a livelihood and a place. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-climate-visuals-people-overlooked.html Environment Thu, 22 Oct 2026 13:20:01 EDT news711878130 From 2010 to 2024, the Amazon rainforest—the largest tropical rainforest on the planet—released an average of 1.17 billion metric tons more carbon dioxide (CO₂) into the atmosphere than it absorbed each year. Wildfires were the main source, emitting approximately 1.47 billion metric tons of CO₂ per year—far exceeding the forest's absorption capacity of 300 million metric tons per year. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-wildfires-amazon-emit-billion-metric.html Earth Sciences Thu, 22 Oct 2026 13:00:20 EDT news711890465 A pilot project in which Indigenous people in the Peruvian Amazon were given an unconditional basic income significantly improved community well-being, strengthened food security and supported rainforest protection, according to analysis by the University of Bath released today. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-world-basic-income-trial-boosts.html Environment Thu, 22 Oct 2026 11:30:07 EDT news711874905 For years, pilots have observed strong and unusual currents in the 2.4-kilometer-long (1.5-mile-long), 300-meter-wide (984-foot-wide) canal connecting Lake Varna with the Black Sea. Maarja Kruusmaa, an academician and professor at Tallinn University of Technology, and researcher Laura Piho, working with the Port of Varna, undertook detailed measurements to determine the causes of the phenomenon. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-scientists-dangerous-oscillations-lake-varna.html Earth Sciences Thu, 22 Oct 2026 07:00:10 EDT news711861976 India began annual measures on Thursday to tackle toxic air pollution in New Delhi, a megacity of 30 million people regularly ranked among the world's most polluted capitals. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-india-capital-air-pollution-winter.html Environment Thu, 22 Oct 2026 05:10:02 EDT news711863015 Losing more ground in the fight against climate change, humanity is heading for a hotter world than experts projected last year—and the United States is a big reason for that, a new United Nations report says. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-big-world-ground-climate.html Environment Thu, 22 Oct 2026 04:50:01 EDT news711862671 A powerful typhoon headed toward Taiwan on Thursday, triggering the cancellation of dozens of flights and prompting warnings for locals to prepare for heavy rain, strong winds and giant waves. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-taiwan-issues-typhoon-champi-nears.html Environment Thu, 22 Oct 2026 04:38:06 EDT news711862636 Ecological grief is growing—and our current approach to climate change education isn't keeping pace. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-young-people-climate-rapidly-world.html Environment Wed, 21 Oct 2026 21:40:01 EDT news711804203 In many African cities, a broken fridge is rarely thrown away immediately. It may be repaired and resold, dismantled for spare parts or collected for its metal components. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-africans-reuse-recycle-resell-circular.html Environment Wed, 21 Oct 2026 20:00:01 EDT news711800596 Ahead of the U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP31) meeting in Antalya, Turkiye, held in Nov. 2026, an expert writing in The BMJ's climate issue argues that accurate data on greenhouse gas emissions during armed conflict is urgently needed to hold militaries, governments and individuals accountable for the environmental impact of war. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-vital-militaries-accountable-environmental-toll.html Environment Wed, 21 Oct 2026 18:30:06 EDT news711793803 Investing more in the military is not a solution to climate change and may cost us our security, warn experts in The BMJ's climate issue. In the first article, Neta Crawford at the University of St Andrews says the view that climate change is a "threat multiplier" that may cause instability and provoke conflict is leading governments to justify higher defense spending. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-military-worsen-climate-undermine-experts.html Environment Wed, 21 Oct 2026 18:30:01 EDT news711794044 When Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) urged Montrealers to limit outdoor activity during Canada's worst wildfire smoke episodes, the city's travel patterns shifted—but far less than public health officials might have hoped, according to a new McGill University study published in Health & Place. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-air-quality-modest-impact-montrealers.html Environment Wed, 21 Oct 2026 18:00:11 EDT news711798380 About 20,000 years ago, an enormous, floating ice shelf more than a mile (1.6 kilometers) thick helped lock in three of the largest ice sheets in northern Canada and Greenland. When that ice shelf disappeared, it helped unlock part of these ice sheets, which contributed to hundreds of feet of sea level rise, establishing modern coastlines as we know them. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-massive-ice-shelf-buttressed-age.html Earth Sciences Wed, 21 Oct 2026 17:20:08 EDT news711807181 California's coastal bluffs and beaches look rugged, but they can be surprisingly fragile in the face of a powerful El Niño. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-el-nio-threatening-california-fragile.html Environment Wed, 21 Oct 2026 17:00:07 EDT news711797414 Salt marsh sediment and vegetation can remain largely intact even during extreme storm surges. This was demonstrated in a large-scale experiment in which researchers transported sections of salt marsh to an experimental facility capable of producing the world's largest artificial waves. The results show how salt marshes can contribute to natural coastal protection, both in the Netherlands and beyond. The results were published in the journals Nature and Communications Sustainability. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-salt-marshes-powerful-allies-climate.html Earth Sciences Wed, 21 Oct 2026 16:40:01 EDT news711807002 Researchers at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) have reconstructed approximately 16,000 years of summer temperature changes from sediments collected at Lake Prokoško in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The findings show how the Western Balkans responded to rapid climate changes at the end of the last glacial period, how warmer and cooler phases unfolded during the Holocene, and how the impact of human land use became increasingly pronounced. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-reconstructing-years-summer-temperature-western.html Earth Sciences Wed, 21 Oct 2026 16:30:02 EDT news711818342 A crack appears beside a window after weeks of scorching weather. As much as you might hope the ground beneath your house will recover with the first rain, the effects of a dry summer can continue long after temperatures fall. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-subsidence-drought-ground-collapse-homes.html Environment Wed, 21 Oct 2026 15:20:16 EDT news711796824 Natural gas leaks are a significant source of methane emissions in cities, but it can be hard to pinpoint exactly where and why they happen. And methane, a potent greenhouse gas that is the main chemical component of natural gas, has been historically undercounted or omitted in emissions estimates, according to a team of atmospheric and climate science researchers in the Penn State College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-methane-emissions-baltimore-seasonal-daily.html Environment Wed, 21 Oct 2026 13:20:17 EDT news711806175 Climate change can look very different at the scale of a forest, field or hillside. A new review shows how changes in vegetation and atmospheric conditions can cause local microclimates to warm at very different rates from the regional climate—and why this matters for understanding how biodiversity will respond to climate change. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-life-earth-climate.html Earth Sciences Wed, 21 Oct 2026 12:20:23 EDT news711798782 Losing more ground in the fight against climate change, humanity is heading for a hotter world than experts projected last year—and the United States is a big reason for that, a new United Nations report says. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-world-ground-curb-climate-faulting.html Environment Wed, 21 Oct 2026 11:20:25 EDT news711794023 New research led by the University of Michigan provides utilities and policymakers with forecasts that can help them better prepare for future extremes in peak energy demand in the United States. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-climate-technology-future-extremes-peak.html Environment Wed, 21 Oct 2026 10:40:14 EDT news711793699 The most damaging weather events are the record-breaking "one-in-100-year" disasters communities have usually only seen once. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-ai-reveals-climate-nz-extreme.html Environment Wed, 21 Oct 2026 09:00:25 EDT news711783736 Anyone living along the coast of Lake Erie will be well aware of the periodic algal blooms that appear on its surface. The greenish blooms can cause rashes and other health problems and pose risks to both humans and animals. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-tackling-lake-erie-algal-blooms.html Environment Wed, 21 Oct 2026 08:40:01 EDT news711783494