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Earth Sciences news
Four ways wildfires generate tornadoes, lightning and other extreme weather, sometimes miles from the flames
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 ...
Earth Sciences
Aug 1, 2026
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Pacific cloud brightening could weaken El Nino, but models reveal risks for Europe and Asia
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.
Earth Sciences
Aug 1, 2026
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Ancient diamond preserves evidence of water-bearing mineral deep in Earth's mantle
A team of Brazilian researchers discovered the first direct evidence that goethite—the mineral responsible for the brown color of soils—can withstand extreme pressures and temperatures all the way to the planet's interior ...
Earth Sciences
Aug 1, 2026
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Experts survey the glacier ice on Mount Ararat for the first time
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 ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 31, 2026
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Ancient Irish volcano offers new clues about the development of its modern-day, active 'brothers and sisters'
An international team of volcanologists working on Carlingford Mountain has found that liquid "magma chambers" do not always exist beneath volcanoes. The team instead demonstrated that magma "plumbing systems" beneath Earth's ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 31, 2026
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New method flags hurricane rapid intensification up to five days ahead
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 ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 31, 2026
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Can pumping groundwater really flip Earth's poles? An expert explains
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 ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 31, 2026
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The Arctic Ocean keeps permafrost carbon firmly locked
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 ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 31, 2026
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Pacific Ocean pattern helps explain diverging wildfire trends in US and Australia
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 ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 30, 2026
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Rural runoff funnels hurricane floodwater toward coastal cities, model finds
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 ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 30, 2026
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Likelihood of wildfires in Southern Europe has doubled since the 80s, study shows
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 ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 30, 2026
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Flash droughts can pull 'alarming' amounts of moisture from the landscape and intensify wildfires
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 ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 30, 2026
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Meet WOMBATlite, the model helping researchers follow the ocean's carbon
The ocean absorbs roughly a quarter of humanity's carbon dioxide emissions each year. Understanding how that happens, and how it might change, is essential for predicting our climate's future. To do that, scientists need ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 30, 2026
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Tiny fossils crack a Cretaceous cold case: Ocean acidification triggered one of the ocean's most severe extinctions
A 113-million-year-old marine murder mystery may finally be solved. Using chemical clues locked inside microscopic fossils, Northwestern University scientists found evidence that ocean acidification drove one of the largest ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 30, 2026
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SMOS mission could offer early indicator of El Niño
Sea-surface salinity, the concentration of dissolved salts in the upper layer of the ocean, is much more than a measure of how salty the sea is. It responds rapidly to changes in rainfall, evaporation, river discharge and, ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 30, 2026
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Rainfall across the US is increasingly coming from farther away
Before rain falls, the moisture that forms it may have traveled anywhere from just a few kilometers to hundreds or even thousands of kilometers away. It usually begins as water that evaporated from oceans, lakes, forests ...
Volcanic eruptions in Pacific Ring of Fire may have cooled Earth for centuries
For around 12,000 years, the Earth has been in the Holocene epoch, a warmer period following a glacial period. During this epoch, however, there have been around 22 abrupt cold phases, each lasting up to several centuries ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 30, 2026
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Cool it: AI-driven solutions to lower urban heat need community buy-in to work
A new framework to cool urban areas which integrates AI-driven technical solutions with cooling schemes that are acceptable and doable for the host community, has been proposed by QUT Urban AI Hub researchers.
Earth Sciences
Jul 30, 2026
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From single projection to many possibilities: A new tool for climate risk assessment
Assessing how climate change will affect different regions usually requires running a complex chain of models. While this approach provides valuable insights, it is expensive and can cover only a limited set of scenarios ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 30, 2026
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Hydrothermal microbes shape seafloor minerals at newly found vents near Greek island
In August 2023, the German research vessel METEOR set sail on Expedition M192 to the Greek island of Milos with Dr. Solveig Bühring as chief scientist. The mission was to locate and investigate previously unknown hydrothermal ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 29, 2026
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New immune-blocking strategy improves interspecies organ generation
How molecular tethers and asynchronous replication drive parasite proliferation
Solar wind stirs Mars' upper atmosphere, boosting ion loss to space
