https://phys.org/earth-news/environment/ en-us The latest news on the environment, environmental issues, earth science and space exploration. As autumn gives way to winter across the Arctic, the ground doesn't immediately freeze solid. Instead, soils often linger near the freezing point for days or even weeks in a phase called the zero curtain. In a new NASA-led study, researchers produced high-resolution maps of the Arctic zero curtain. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ai-reveals-hidden-stage-arctic.html Earth Sciences Sat, 22 Aug 2026 13:00:01 EDT news706455913 Europe saw at least 30,000 excess deaths across a blistering summer of back-to-back heat waves and drought that scientists have blamed on man-made climate change, according to provisional figures. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-europe-excess-summer-deaths-figures.html Environment Sat, 22 Aug 2026 12:20:03 EDT news706614049 With Gulf turmoil slashing Suez Canal traffic, shipping firms are tempted to try the Arctic for quicker trips between Europe and Asia—but commercial prospects are unlikely to match countries' strategic ambitions for the North Pole. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-arctic-shipping-daunting-prospect-hotly.html Environment Sat, 22 Aug 2026 11:30:01 EDT news706613981 Sometimes science throws up the unexpected. When a team of researchers set out to model river erosion in Canada's High Arctic, they did not expect the findings to defy common sense. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-arctic-riverbeds-erode-faster-unfrozen.html Earth Sciences Sat, 22 Aug 2026 11:20:05 EDT news706614377 A sea of corrugated metal roofs stretches into the distance across an informal settlement in Makassar, Indonesia. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-cities-extreme.html Environment Fri, 21 Aug 2026 16:00:07 EDT news706535338 Why do some lakes remain plagued by harmful algal blooms even after phosphorus pollution has been reduced? Part of the answer lies beneath the surface. A new Concordia study has uncovered a previously overlooked chemical process that can help trap phosphorus in lake sediments, preventing it from returning to the water, where it can fuel excessive plant and algal growth. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-hidden-chemical-pathway-phosphorus-fueling.html Earth Sciences Fri, 21 Aug 2026 14:40:01 EDT news706534441 This year's El Niño weather pattern will be the biggest in more than a century and could make 2027 the hottest year globally, Britain's national weather agency predicted Friday. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-uk-biggest-el-nino-hottest.html Environment Fri, 21 Aug 2026 14:20:01 EDT news706538621 If a remotely operated oil tanker causes a spill, the shipowner remains responsible for compensating victims under existing international rules. But another question remains unresolved: Can the person controlling the ship from shore also be sued directly for negligence? https://phys.org/news/2026-08-autonomous-ship-liability-unclear-oil.html Environment Fri, 21 Aug 2026 14:00:05 EDT news706537441 In April 1917, the German submarine UC-30 sailed beneath the waves off the coast of Rømø. It had originally been on a mission in Ireland, but after suffering engine trouble, it turned around and was almost home in Germany. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-shipwrecks-wwi-wwii-polluting-north.html Environment Fri, 21 Aug 2026 13:40:13 EDT news706532941 Not all of Indonesia's seagrass meadows are faring alike. A study has revealed substantial spatial differences in the condition of 21 seagrass meadows across central and eastern Indonesia, providing a clearer picture of where ecosystems are thriving (hotspots), under stress (coldspots) or undergoing ecological change (outliers). https://phys.org/news/2026-08-indonesian-seagrass-quality-blue-carbon.html Environment Fri, 21 Aug 2026 12:00:05 EDT news706532101 Wildfires that have swept across Britain's upland moors and lowland heaths in unprecedented tinder-dry conditions have left behind expanses of smoking, blackened vegetation. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-wildfire-britain-heaths-green-weeks.html Environment Fri, 21 Aug 2026 11:00:03 EDT news706522622 We each need a roof over our heads, classrooms to learn in and offices or spaces to work in. To meet this unprecedented demand for new buildings, globally, we're constructing the equivalent of an entire New York City every month. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-yorksized-city-month-climate.html Environment Fri, 21 Aug 2026 10:40:05 EDT news706522502 Jennifer Bhatnagar spent the summer of 2023 traversing barren hillsides blackened by wildfire in northern California. She walked through devastated properties, examined the hot soil beneath her feet, collected samples and asked questions. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-forests-survive-world.html Earth Sciences Fri, 21 Aug 2026 07:20:02 EDT news706509362 This year's El Niño is on track to be the strongest on record, threatening to unleash extreme weather across the globe and make 2027 the hottest recorded year by far. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-el-nio-world.html Environment Fri, 21 Aug 2026 05:10:01 EDT news706505196 The Panama Canal will cut the number of ships passing through it starting next month because of drought caused by the El Niño phenomenon, the operator of the strategic waterway linking the Atlantic and Pacific said Thursday. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-panama-canal-shipping-el-nio.html Environment Fri, 21 Aug 2026 04:24:16 EDT news706505028 Rising atmospheric carbon dioxide is boosting grass growth in Africa's water-limited savannas, according to a new study led by the University of Sheffield. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-carbon-dioxide-supercharging-grass-growth.html Environment Thu, 20 Aug 2026 19:00:01 EDT news706450801 Cornell engineers have developed a "digital twin" framework that creates a real-time virtual representation of urban carbon dioxide conditions, providing a tool that could help city planners monitor emissions, identify hotspots and evaluate potential interventions before implementing them in the real world. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-digital-twin-manhattan-air-quality.html Environment Thu, 20 Aug 2026 18:40:07 EDT news706464302 Offshore wind farms are a key pillar of the energy transition. The European Union plans to expand offshore wind capacity in the North Sea by 2050. A new study by the Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon indicates that a very extensive expansion could influence regional precipitation patterns: While precipitation over the sea could increase, it could decrease in coastal regions. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-north-sea-farm-expansion-shift.html Earth Sciences Thu, 20 Aug 2026 18:40:02 EDT news706450623 As nations race to restore ecosystems and curb climate change, research has shown that letting nature do the work is a cost-effective, viable solution. A study from the University of Queensland and the University of Newcastle found that natural forest regeneration delivered substantial carbon and biodiversity benefits and could be up to 96% cheaper than traditional tree-planting programs. The work is published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-natural-forest-regrowth-path-climate.html Environment Thu, 20 Aug 2026 17:40:03 EDT news706450141 Over the past 230,000 years, the growth and retreat of the Icelandic ice sheet have led to major changes in the seawater chemistry of the North Atlantic, caused by the interaction between volcanism and ice in Iceland. Scientists at the Institute of Environmental Physics at Heidelberg University have demonstrated this using sediment cores from the northeastern Atlantic—the Rockall Plateau. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-dynamics-icelandic-ice-sheet-north.html Earth Sciences Thu, 20 Aug 2026 17:00:01 EDT news706449482 The exceptionally hot summer in the Alps has been marked by a record number of rockfalls, some of them fatal, with "a large majority attributable to the climate crisis," according to scientist Ludovic Ravanel. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-summer-triggers-rockfalls-alps-scientist.html Environment Thu, 20 Aug 2026 16:40:06 EDT news706455365 A new study published in Communications Earth & Environment, with contributions from researchers at the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT), shows that higher seawater temperatures could significantly reduce the long-term ability of underwater plants to store carbon. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ocean-temperatures-natural-carbon-storage.html Earth Sciences Thu, 20 Aug 2026 16:40:01 EDT news706449062 Belgium's largest wildfire in a century was brought "under control" Thursday after a seven-day fight involving hundreds of firefighters in the boggy terrain of the High Fens nature reserve. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-belgium-century.html Environment Thu, 20 Aug 2026 16:20:08 EDT news706455327 Exceptionally low river levels in a Europe hit hard by drought and record heat have plunged transporters into turmoil this summer, driving up costs that everyday consumers could end up bearing. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-europe-rivers-recede-shippers-scramble.html Environment Thu, 20 Aug 2026 16:00:01 EDT news706454818 Europe's deadly, record-breaking summer heat waves sent temperatures above 40°C (104°F) in areas inhabited by 80 million people from mid-June to mid-August, according to official data analyzed by AFP, with many of those areas not used to such hot weather. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-europe-million.html Environment Thu, 20 Aug 2026 15:40:04 EDT news706454752 Researchers have created an interactive map identifying 1.8 million individual trees in New York City, using a new approach that could optimize the placement of trees for cooling in cities around the world. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-wall-nyc-trees-cool-cities.html Environment Thu, 20 Aug 2026 15:20:09 EDT news706447322 Extreme precipitation events are among the most damaging natural disasters and a major concern in our changing climate. In the U.S., since 1980, the most destructive events alone have caused more than 2,800 deaths and $700 billion in damages. But what is the total area of the country affected by these events each year? And how have these patterns changed over the past several decades? In a recent study in Geophysical Research Letters, led by researchers at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, which is part of the Columbia Climate School, the authors discovered some unexpected trends. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-extreme-shifts-larger-frequent-storms.html Earth Sciences Thu, 20 Aug 2026 14:40:06 EDT news706446782 Methane-munching microbes in soil might be more important than previously thought, a new study finds. Soil is an important carbon sink, and scientists are still learning much about the diversity of its microbial communities. They're being uncovered from Arctic soils to desert sands, and some of them are sucking down methane—a greenhouse gas about 27–30 times more potent than carbon dioxide over 100 years. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-soil-methane-larger-thought-analysis.html Earth Sciences Thu, 20 Aug 2026 13:20:07 EDT news706442761 Firefighters have been battling a vast wildfire in the hills above Blaenavon in south Wales, spreading across more than 4,000 hectares (9,900 acres), for three weeks. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-uk-wetlands-destroyed-wildfires.html Earth Sciences Thu, 20 Aug 2026 11:00:01 EDT news706437902 When people shop for a home, they tend to focus on the information listings put front and center: price, floor area, number of bedrooms and location. Rarely do listings show how a home can shape a household's carbon footprint through energy use and commuting. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-homebuyers-homes-higher-carbon-footprints.html Environment Thu, 20 Aug 2026 10:40:06 EDT news706437842