https://phys.org/earth-news/environment/ en-us The latest news on the environment, environmental issues, earth science and space exploration. South Korea registered its highest temperature since records began more than a century ago on Sunday, as authorities warned people to "immediately" stop all outdoor activities in affected areas. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-south-korea-highest-temperature.html Environment Mon, 03 Aug 2026 03:13:28 EDT news704945580 The small mountain streams that feed many of the West's rivers may face a much drier future. A new study led by NAU researchers found that groundwater-fed streamflow, known as base flow, has been steadily declining across headwater watersheds in the western United States since 1950 and could decrease by 45% to 65% by the end of this century if current climate trends continue. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-climate-west-headwaters.html Environment Sun, 02 Aug 2026 14:40:01 EDT news704719021 Since returning to power, President Donald Trump's administration has approved five pesticides considered by many to be PFAS "forever chemicals," a class of toxic substances facing bans and increasing restrictions around the world. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-chemicals-pesticides.html Environment Sun, 02 Aug 2026 10:00:03 EDT news704718931 "An island of biodiversity in a sea of monoculture": This is how a recent study characterized the Pimentel Barbosa Indigenous Territory (TIPB), located in the northeastern part of Mato Grosso state in Brazil's Central-West region. The study showed that the area's human occupation patterns and vegetation cover have remained largely unchanged for four decades. Meanwhile, the surrounding area has been altered by the expansion of livestock ranching, soybean farming and the construction of major highways (BR-158 and BR-163), which are part of Brazil's efforts to extend its agricultural frontier. The TIPB covers 329,000 hectares (1,270 square miles) and was home to 2,369 people in 2022, according to a census by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). https://phys.org/news/2026-08-indigenous-territory-ecological-stability-agricultural.html Environment Sun, 02 Aug 2026 07:40:01 EDT news704769487 Thick smoke from massive wildfires has been spreading in North America and Europe once again in 2026. The health impacts of breathing this particle-filled air are becoming well known, but wildfires' influence on the weather is less widely recognized. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-ways-wildfires-generate-tornadoes-lightning.html Earth Sciences Sat, 01 Aug 2026 14:00:01 EDT news704633775 A brewing "super" El Nino cycle is poised to unleash heat waves, floods and drought worldwide, with the effects amplified by long-term human-caused climate change. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-pacific-cloud-brightening-weaken-el.html Earth Sciences Sat, 01 Aug 2026 09:50:02 EDT news702791160 The UK is bouncing from one type of extreme weather to another this year. This is climate whiplash. Caused by changes in the fast-moving body of air high in the atmosphere called the jet stream, climate whiplash has become more likely with climate change. These constant shifts in extreme weather make it challenging to build resilience. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-rollercoaster-weather-extremes-drought-uk.html Environment Sat, 01 Aug 2026 06:00:01 EDT news704709405 A strengthening El Niño that could shatter all-time records is "adding fuel to a planet already on fire" and pushing the world into "uncharted territory," U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Friday. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-el-nino-adding-fuel-planet.html Environment Sat, 01 Aug 2026 02:48:04 EDT news704771154 Hungary's sole nuclear power plant will be shut down next week because of low water levels in the Danube, Prime Minister Peter Magyar said Friday as central Europe slogs through the latest in a series of heat waves. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-hungary-nuclear-heatwave-central-europe.html Environment Sat, 01 Aug 2026 02:47:14 EDT news704771208 A map showing the distribution of isotopes in Amazonian tree wood can help identify illegally harvested timber. By analyzing the ratio of different isotopes of elements such as oxygen, carbon, nitrogen and strontium, researchers can pinpoint the region where the wood was harvested more precisely. This helps combat the illegal timber trade. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-isotopic-analysis-police-combat-illegal.html Environment Fri, 31 Jul 2026 16:20:03 EDT news704721661 AFPA has echoed serious concerns raised by Forestry Australia over the federal government's controversial new carbon credit method, warning it undermines the integrity and credibility of Australia's carbon market. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-technical-flaws-inflate-australia-forest.html Environment Fri, 31 Jul 2026 15:40:04 EDT news704721061 New wildfires fed by strong winds broke out in Greece on Friday, giving firefighters little respite and forcing Civil Protection officials to order the partial evacuation of part of a suburb west of Athens. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-blazes-greece-strong-hamper-firefighting.html Environment Fri, 31 Jul 2026 15:20:01 EDT news704718910 A study led by Marc Guinjoan, a lecturer in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at the UAB, with researchers Toni Rodon of the UPF and Joel Ardiaca of the UB, reveals that citizen support for climate policies depends largely on how the costs, benefits and redistributive effects are communicated. The research, published in the journal West European Politics and based on two experiments using representative samples of the Spanish population, explains why specific climate measures face backlash despite widespread public acceptance of the need to fight climate change. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-gaining-citizen-climate-policies-difficult.html Environment Fri, 31 Jul 2026 14:20:05 EDT news704720521 Facing wind and cold, with only half as much oxygen to breathe as in the valley, a German-Turkish research team surveyed the glacier on Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey for the first time in July, at more than 5,000 meters (16,400 feet) above sea level. For two weeks, the team explored the ice field, which until then had been a blank page for researchers. Their goal was to find out whether the ice on Turkey's highest mountain preserves a unique archive of climate and cultural history. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-experts-survey-glacier-ice-mount.html Earth Sciences Fri, 31 Jul 2026 14:20:01 EDT news704717162 Scorching summer temperatures have disrupted life for millions of Europeans, but for winegrowers in Italy and France who are harvesting their grapes unusually early, the hot weather offers pros as well as cons. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-french-italian-winegrowers-earliest-harvest.html Environment Fri, 31 Jul 2026 13:20:03 EDT news704718622 The rapid intensification of a hurricane ranks among the most dangerous weather events on Earth. Storms such as Hurricane Michael, which crashed ashore in the Florida Panhandle with winds of 160 mph (about 257 km/h), and Hurricane Otis, the costliest hurricane to strike Mexico's Pacific coast, caught communities unawares when they intensified at a rate that computer models failed to anticipate. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-method-flags-hurricane-rapid-intensification.html Earth Sciences Fri, 31 Jul 2026 12:00:01 EDT news704711402 The modern workday unfolds largely indoors. Long hours spent commuting, sitting in meetings and staring at screens can make time outdoors feel like a luxury. Finding time for nature in an already packed workday can feel impossible, especially if you think nature only "counts" when it involves hiking boots and camping gear. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-9to5-job-mental-health.html Environment Fri, 31 Jul 2026 11:20:05 EDT news704707982 Recently, a government minister in the Northern Territory, pitching a plan to make Darwin "the data center capital of the globe," suggested it might be a good idea to pump out groundwater to keep Earth's spin steady. If we don't, she said, we might risk "flipping the poles again." https://phys.org/news/2026-07-groundwater-flip-earth-poles-expert.html Earth Sciences Fri, 31 Jul 2026 08:20:03 EDT news704698442 Weather measurements in Leeds have shown that many green spaces, such as parks, gardens and forests, were cooler than surrounding urban environments, also known as gray spaces. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-tree-key-cooling-cities.html Environment Fri, 31 Jul 2026 07:40:03 EDT news704697542 Permafrost in the Arctic stores large quantities of organic carbon. When frozen ground thaws or coastal sections erode, this carbon can enter the sea, where microorganisms can break it down and convert it into climate-damaging greenhouse gases. The extent to which this carbon actually enters the atmosphere, however, and how much remains in the ocean have hardly been quantified to date. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-arctic-ocean-permafrost-carbon-firmly.html Earth Sciences Fri, 31 Jul 2026 05:00:03 EDT news704553542 The bison carried on grazing peacefully as the flames approached, imperturbable despite the fires ravaging the land around their wildlife park west of Madrid. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-spain-safari-animals-grazed-calmly.html Environment Fri, 31 Jul 2026 03:50:01 EDT news704685869 Hundreds of Turkish firefighters battled Thursday to contain wind-fueled wildfires spreading near key tourist regions on the country's Mediterranean coast. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-turkey-fueled-wildfires-tourist-coasts.html Environment Fri, 31 Jul 2026 03:40:01 EDT news704685805 Two of the world's most fire-prone regions have followed strikingly different wildfire trajectories despite both experiencing a warming climate. Burned forest area has surged across the U.S. Southwest, while eastern Australia has not seen the same increase. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-pacific-ocean-pattern-diverging-wildfire.html Earth Sciences Thu, 30 Jul 2026 19:00:02 EDT news704644382 Coastal cities are at increasing risk of compound flooding events, such as when heavy rainfall and storm surges occur simultaneously during hurricanes. However, the processes that contribute to urban compound flooding aren't well understood at smaller scales. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-rural-runoff-funnels-hurricane-floodwater.html Earth Sciences Thu, 30 Jul 2026 18:40:07 EDT news704648522 Hundreds of firefighters were battling strong winds Friday as they fought a wildfire in southwestern Turkey. High winds stoked a new blaze, complicating efforts to bring the fires under control, a minister said. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-turkey-wildfires-tourist-coasts.html Environment Thu, 30 Jul 2026 18:00:05 EDT news704645993 Summer days featuring conditions that promote wildfire ignition, intensity and spread have more than doubled across large parts of the Iberian Peninsula, France, Italy and Greece since 1981, according to a study in Scientific Reports. The findings suggest that hotter, drier weather is increasing wildfire risk across Southern Europe, despite fewer fires occurring in the region since the 1980s. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-likelihood-wildfires-southern-europe-80s.html Earth Sciences Thu, 30 Jul 2026 17:50:01 EDT news704648941 Southern Europe is "becoming more flammable," with the number of summer days primed for extreme fire conditions more than doubling since 1981, a new study found Thursday. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-southern-europe-flammable-hotter-climate.html Environment Thu, 30 Jul 2026 17:40:01 EDT news704645857 When catastrophic wildfires capture global headlines, such as the unprecedented blazes sweeping through southern Europe this summer or the devastating 2019–20 "Black Summer" in Australia, they are almost always preceded by severe drought. Dry vegetation and parched landscapes are necessary ingredients for infernos. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-droughts-alarming-amounts-moisture-landscape.html Earth Sciences Thu, 30 Jul 2026 17:20:02 EDT news704642641 Italian authorities raised the drought alert level to "high" Thursday in the Po Valley, home to the country's longest river, because of worsening conditions and unfavorable weather forecasts. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-italy-po-river-valley-drought.html Environment Thu, 30 Jul 2026 17:00:01 EDT news704645826 Greece on Thursday battled to contain a spate of wildfires, including one on the tourist island of Crete that forced thousands of residents and holidaymakers to evacuate and left three firefighters dead. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-firefighters-deadly-crete-blaze-greece.html Environment Thu, 30 Jul 2026 16:40:03 EDT news704645795