https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Snails carry weather records on their backs that could be used to map prehistoric cyclones, a University of Queensland study has shown. The project led by School of the Environment researchers examined the rings on the shell of a Biggenden Banded Snail (Figuladra bayensis) collected from Coalstoun Lakes National Park in southeast Queensland. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-snail-shells-weather-capsules.html Earth Sciences Mon, 14 Sep 2026 10:00:04 EDT news708594242 The historic droughts of 2023 and 2024 in the Amazon reduced river flows and altered the region's rainfall composition. Daily monitoring in Manaus, the capital of the Brazilian state of Amazonas, revealed these changes through the use of isotopes, which act as a kind of water "fingerprint." This method demonstrated how El Niño and warming in the North Atlantic affected the origin of moisture and precipitation dynamics. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-isotopes-reveal-early-drought-central.html Earth Sciences Thu, 10 Sep 2026 16:30:01 EDT news708274981 Japan has been experiencing increasingly severe damage from torrential rainfall triggered by typhoons and stationary linear rain bands. In response, an ambitious and unconventional idea is taking shape: artificially inducing heavy rainfall over the ocean to reduce extreme downpours on land. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-ai-torrential-frontier-weather.html Environment Wed, 09 Sep 2026 23:20:01 EDT news708155509 Morocco spent most of the last decade drying out. Between 2019 and 2024, the country recorded six consecutive years of below-average rainfall, the longest on record. The 2023–24 hydrological year was the driest in more than six decades, with a national total of just 106.4 mm. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-drought-north-africa-super-el.html Environment Wed, 09 Sep 2026 17:40:05 EDT news708177651 Ocean color remote sensing is a vital tool for monitoring global ocean carbon sinks and primary productivity. However, the on-orbit calibration accuracy of satellite sensors is insufficient, and weak marine signals account for only approximately 10% of the signals received by satellites, leading to significant uncertainties in ocean color remote-sensing applications. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-vicarious-calibration-enables-quantitative-applications.html Environment Tue, 08 Sep 2026 22:20:02 EDT news708102901 Southeast Asia has spent decades trying to tackle haze from forest fires. Yet every few years, the region finds itself breathing it again. The transboundary environmental problem has become a recurrent phenomenon in the region. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-southeast-asia-haze-asean.html Earth Sciences Tue, 08 Sep 2026 22:00:02 EDT news708097457 Since the 1950s, the Tibetan Plateau has experienced pronounced warming and wetting. However, an overall shift toward wetter conditions does not necessarily mean that drought risk has diminished. On the contrary, against the backdrop of continued warming, compound hot-dry events—characterized by the simultaneous occurrence of high temperatures and drought—have become an increasingly important climate risk across the plateau. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-wetter-tibetan-plateau-hot-dry.html Earth Sciences Tue, 08 Sep 2026 21:00:01 EDT news708099361 The mountain section whose collapse triggered fatal floods in Nepal and China on Aug. 26 had experienced unprecedented heat for the time of year, meteorological data analyzed by a researcher show. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-nepal-glacier-exceptional-collapse-deadly.html Earth Sciences Tue, 08 Sep 2026 10:48:54 EDT news708083291 Meteorologist James Stagg gave what many regard as the most important weather forecast in history in June 1944. The fate of more than 150,000 Allied troops preparing to invade the Normandy beaches on D-Day and the future of the war in Europe depended on Stagg and his forecasting teams. Get the forecast wrong and an already perilous invasion might not succeed, prolonging the war. In the briefing room at Southwick House near Portsmouth, waiting for the forecast, sat General Dwight D. Eisenhower. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-war-drama-pressure-depicts-dday.html Environment Mon, 07 Sep 2026 17:20:01 EDT news707993203 The important role ships play in gathering scientific data in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean has been outlined at a leading Antarctic science conference in Hobart. The biennial Australian Antarctic Research Conference was held at the University of Tasmania and attracted 400 researchers from around the globe. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-ships-ice-cores-krill-surveys.html Environment Mon, 07 Sep 2026 15:20:06 EDT news708010203 An increase in pollution from wildfires and heat waves risks undermining international efforts to improve air quality and protect human and ecosystem health, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which traces the complex interrelationships between air quality and climate. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-climate-air-quality-linked-highlights.html Earth Sciences Mon, 07 Sep 2026 13:20:05 EDT news707993158 More than two dozen University of Victoria researchers contributed to "Canada's Changing Climate Report 2026," the country's most comprehensive assessment of how climate change is affecting communities, ecosystems and coastlines across Canada. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-canada-climate.html Earth Sciences Mon, 07 Sep 2026 08:20:01 EDT news707982002 El Niño is firmly established and will intensify into a very strong event in the coming months, with major impacts on rainfall and temperature patterns and associated risks of floods, drought and extreme heat, according to a new update from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). https://phys.org/news/2026-09-el-nio-warmer-nz-australia.html Environment Fri, 04 Sep 2026 15:40:04 EDT news707747701 Malaysia launched a three-day cloud-seeding operation Thursday in a bid to ease hazardous haze choking Sarawak state, as smoke from Indonesian forest fires pushed air quality to dangerous levels. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-malaysia-cloud-seeding-toxic-haze.html Environment Thu, 03 Sep 2026 15:20:08 EDT news707657498 El Niño is forecast to be the strongest since comparable records began four decades ago, the United Nations' climate agency warned Thursday, with the UN chief saying the world was in the "danger zone of extreme weather." https://phys.org/news/2026-09-el-nio-strongest-decades.html Environment Thu, 03 Sep 2026 12:40:03 EDT news707657049 Despite protections, blue whales remain endangered, primarily because of the risk of collisions with ships. MBARI's Blue Whale Observatory uses a suite of technologies to study these animals and their primary food source, krill, in the Monterey Bay region. The findings from this body of research can help resource managers protect these majestic animals. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-precise-giants-reveals-blue-whales.html Plants & Animals Mon, 31 Aug 2026 16:00:04 EDT news707399617 The reappearance of Budapest's "Rock of Starvation" is a visible sign of a drought months in the making. IIASA researchers have traced its progression from missing rainfall and parched soils to exceptionally low flows across the Danube basin. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-starvation-reappears-drought-tightens-danube.html Environment Wed, 26 Aug 2026 18:40:01 EDT news706977361 India is currently in the middle of its summer monsoon, but this year's rainfall presents an interesting paradox. Much of the country has received less rain than usual so far, yet has still been hit by severe floods and landslides. In the southern state of Kerala, for example, devastating floods occurred despite the overall monsoon rainfall remaining well below average. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-super-el-nio-india-monsoon.html Environment Tue, 25 Aug 2026 13:20:07 EDT news706877221 The weather files engineers use to design buildings are built from decades of historical measurements. The data can be more than 30 years old. But a building designed today is expected to perform well in 2080, and ideally beyond. Researchers from Norway and Portugal have now released future meteorological data covering more than 5,000 European locations. The files are reliable projections of Europe's future climate, down to specific time periods and places. The entire dataset is freely available at climatedataforbuildings.eu. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-europe-climate-longer-dataset.html Environment Mon, 24 Aug 2026 15:00:03 EDT news706794564 More than 80 countries face chronic drought, yet only a third have systems in place to act before a drought arrives rather than after. The gap is costly. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, every $1 invested in anticipatory action can save up to $7 in averted losses, while also helping protect lives and livelihoods before crisis conditions take hold. Acting early works. So why don't more countries do it? https://phys.org/news/2026-08-decision-drought-preparedness.html Environment Mon, 24 Aug 2026 11:40:01 EDT news706784050 Seismic waves produced by thunderstorms, called thunderquakes, can be used as a novel source for seismic imaging, according to a new study led by researchers at Penn State. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-thunderquakes-enable-seismic-imaging-earth.html Earth Sciences Fri, 21 Aug 2026 14:00:01 EDT news706362481 Amid current heat waves, urban greening is once again moving to the center of public debate. Greener cities are generally expected to have cleaner air because trees capture airborne particles, absorb gaseous pollutants and cool urban neighborhoods. But trees also emit biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) that, in the presence of sunlight and nitrogen oxides (NOx), can contribute to ground-level ozone formation. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-beijing-isoprene-emitting-trees-highlight.html Environment Wed, 19 Aug 2026 14:00:19 EDT news706278421 Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has developed a new framework for early wildfire detection using real-time modeling that combines multiple datasets with complex remote-sensing capabilities. Understanding real-time wildfire growth patterns and fire dynamics while accounting for environmental and atmospheric variables can help emergency officials make life-saving decisions about when to inform an at-risk community or where to stage resources. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-dynamic-framework-wildfires.html Environment Wed, 19 Aug 2026 13:20:01 EDT news706353481 The summers of recent years have been hot, but not unusual from a meteorological perspective. According to researchers at Leipzig University, though, the next extreme summer would far exceed anything we have experienced so far. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-drier-soils-late-summer-prolonged.html Earth Sciences Tue, 18 Aug 2026 09:20:01 EDT news706263241 There is no question that the current global temperature increase is human-caused. Global warming has long since emerged as the dominant signal amid natural climate fluctuations. However, identifying how this warming manifests regionally remains a key challenge. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-reveal-regional-climate-fingerprints-human.html Environment Mon, 17 Aug 2026 17:00:05 EDT news706189971 A powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia early Saturday, damaging buildings and homes, and triggering a tsunami warning. Authorities urged people on affected coastlines to move to higher ground. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-magnitude-earthquake-coast-indonesia-tsunami.html Environment Sat, 15 Aug 2026 03:27:46 EDT news705983252 Tornadoes are among the most destructive weather phenomena on Earth. Their small scale, short life cycle and sudden onset make them extremely difficult to predict. This challenge is amplified for weak tornadoes embedded within midlatitude westerly flows, which often hide in plain sight with faint signals. Improving the simulation capability for these events is vital for reducing disaster risk in highly vulnerable regions such as the Pearl River Delta. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-band-radar-sharpen-simulation-westerly.html Environment Fri, 14 Aug 2026 14:50:01 EDT news705935111 Salt and sugar from the sea can rise as far as the free troposphere, thereby influencing both cloud formation and the Arctic climate. This is the finding of balloon measurements carried out by a team of researchers on Spitsbergen in autumn 2021 and spring 2022. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-arctic-balloon-samples-marine-sugars.html Earth Sciences Fri, 14 Aug 2026 09:40:01 EDT news705916225 Torrential rain pummeled eastern Japan on Thursday, triggering landslides and power outages and prompting the weather authority to issue its highest-level heavy rain warning for the region for the first time. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-heavy-eastern-japan-prompting-highest.html Environment Thu, 13 Aug 2026 15:20:04 EDT news705849576 Animals struggle to cool down in extreme heat and high humidity, and heat stress is rising in many regions around the world. This is especially true for people in tropical countries, including populous India. In a new paper in AGU Advances, researchers characterize the extent of India's "uncompensable heat stress" and project how the problem could worsen in the future. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-india-uncompensable-stress-monsoon-season.html Earth Sciences Thu, 13 Aug 2026 14:20:05 EDT news705839127