https://phys.org/earth-news/earth-sciences en-us The latest news on earth sciences and the environment Earth's surface is the living skin of our planet—it connects the physical, chemical and biological systems. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-theory-landscapes-drove-evolution-earth.html Earth Sciences Environment Sat, 02 Dec 2023 13:40:01 EST news620562887 A recent study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth sheds new light on the formation of the East Coast of the United States—a "passive margin," in geologic terms—during the breakup of the supercontinent Pangea and the opening of the Atlantic Ocean around 230 million years ago. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-illuminates-formation-east-coast-supercontinent.html Earth Sciences Environment Fri, 01 Dec 2023 12:09:07 EST news620654941 Arianne Teherani has a loud, clear message for the negotiators at COP28: "Climate change is undermining human health, fundamentally, all over the world, right now." https://phys.org/news/2023-12-health-priority-cop28-spur-faster.html Earth Sciences Fri, 01 Dec 2023 11:40:06 EST news620653202 Recent drought-related data compiled by the UN point to "an unprecedented emergency on a planetary scale, where the massive impacts of human-induced droughts are only starting to unfold." https://phys.org/news/2023-12-silent-devastation-drought-globally-climate.html Earth Sciences Environment Fri, 01 Dec 2023 11:19:05 EST news620651941 Climate change has many effects, but one of the most significant will feature for the first time at COP28—its impact on human health. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-cop28-climate-summit-health-day.html Earth Sciences Environment Fri, 01 Dec 2023 10:10:10 EST news620647802 Water, as one of the essential natural resources, is vital for the growth of any region. How much water a city has access to and how water is distributed is a crucial part of sustainable development. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-methods-sustainable-cities.html Earth Sciences Environment Fri, 01 Dec 2023 09:02:04 EST news620643722 As the demand for rare earth elements increases world-wide, so too do the mining activities associated with rare earth element extraction. Rare earth elements are listed as 15 elements on the periodic table constituting what is known as the lanthanide series, ranging in atomic number from 57 (lanthanum) to 71 (lutetium), as well as scandium (Sc) and yttrium (Y), which serve as essential inputs for information and energy technologies, especially renewable energy technologies. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-unexpected-expansion-rare-earth-element.html Earth Sciences Environment Fri, 01 Dec 2023 08:28:04 EST news620641681 Jacqueline "Jackie" Gerson knows very well how "artisanal gold mining" sounds to people who haven't heard the phrase before. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-detoxifying-gold.html Earth Sciences Environment Fri, 01 Dec 2023 08:14:24 EST news620640859 Simultaneous episodes of extreme heat and drought—typical of a moderate warming scenario predicted for the end of the 21st century—could occur earlier and repeatedly in Europe, reports a study published in Communications Earth & Environment. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-century-extreme-drought-conditions-europe.html Earth Sciences Environment Fri, 01 Dec 2023 08:04:02 EST news620640240 Writing in the journal Nature ahead of COP28, a team of Met Office scientists has emphasized that—surprisingly—there is currently no formally agreed way of defining the current level of global warming relevant to the Paris Agreement. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-consensus-global-15c-scientists.html Earth Sciences Environment Fri, 01 Dec 2023 07:02:26 EST news620636541 The scorching heat waves of 2023's summer and autumn shook the world, raising a pertinent question: Will this lead to the warmest winter the globe has ever witnessed? https://phys.org/news/2023-11-brace-potentially-record-breaking-winter-sweltering.html Earth Sciences Environment Fri, 01 Dec 2023 03:00:02 EST news620582574 In 2015, more than 140 countries signed up to the goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. For countries in the global south this is a huge task. On the one hand, they have committed to low emissions. On the other their economic survival depends on using resources that produce high emissions. International economic law scholar Olabisi D. Akinkugbe unpacks the issue of climate justice, and how climate laws and foreign investment laws fit into the picture. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-emissions-economic-survivalcountries-global-south.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 30 Nov 2023 22:00:02 EST news620567483 The summer of 2023 was the hottest on record. Climate change fueled destructive hurricanes in Florida, more intense monsoons in India, and melted sea ice to historically low levels in the Arctic and Antarctic. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-qa-scientific-ingenuity-clock-climate.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 30 Nov 2023 17:15:06 EST news620586902 AFAC, the National Council for fire and emergency services, has released the Seasonal Bushfire Outlook for Summer 2023. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-risky-season-eastern-central-australia.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 30 Nov 2023 16:46:03 EST news620585161 A recent study demonstrates how dripstones can be crucial for reconstructing past climates. The new approach can provide a detailed picture of the climate around early human occupations in South Africa. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-decoding-climates-dripstones.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 30 Nov 2023 16:41:03 EST news620584861 While the impacts of climate change vary across the globe, most scientists agree that, overall, a warming environment is increasing both the frequency and intensity of severe weather events such as tornados and intense thunderstorms. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-climate-atmospheric-instability-years.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 30 Nov 2023 16:29:04 EST news620584141 A team of scientists found that carbon dioxide becomes a more potent greenhouse gas as more is released into the atmosphere. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-carbon-dioxide-potent-climate.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 30 Nov 2023 16:18:04 EST news620583482 As global temperatures records are smashed and greenhouse gas emissions reach new highs, a new report from the UN Environment Programme finds that current pledges under the Paris Agreement put the world on track for a 2.5°C–2.9°C temperature rise this century—pointing to the urgent need for increased climate action. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-climate-action-earth.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 30 Nov 2023 13:55:56 EST news620574952 On 9 January 2023, the United Nations released its latest report on the status of the ozone layer. It highlighted that this protective barrier is on track toward recovery and should be fully restored by the second half of the 21st century. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-science-ozone-layer.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 30 Nov 2023 12:40:01 EST news620567295 Artificial intelligence, which can already generate texts and mimic human speech, might also help the world prepare for the worsening effects of climate change. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-extreme-weather-power.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 30 Nov 2023 12:29:05 EST news620569741 There are thousands of mountains scattered across the seafloor, many of which are thousands of meters tall. These seamounts may have significant impacts on seismicity when the portion of the ocean floor they are on is subducted beneath another tectonic plate. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-subducted-seamounts-larger-earthquakes.html Earth Sciences Thu, 30 Nov 2023 12:00:29 EST news620568026 The Piracicaba, Capivari and Jundiaí (PCJ) River Basin comprises 76 municipalities in São Paulo state, Brazil, with more than 5.8 million inhabitants and a drainage area of more than 14,000 square kilometers. These three rivers and their tributaries are essential sources of drinking water, energy, irrigation for agriculture, and water for industrial processes. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-profile-pollutants-important-river-basin.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 30 Nov 2023 11:54:04 EST news620567641 Over the past decades, environmental scientists and engineers have been trying to devise effective solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the adverse effects of climate change. This has led to the creation of various energy models, frameworks that can be used to investigate emission mitigation scenarios in the hope of meeting the goals outlined by the Paris Agreement. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-fingerprints-energy-exploring-emission-mitigation.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 30 Nov 2023 11:50:01 EST news620560643 MIT geologists have found that a clay mineral on the seafloor, called smectite, has a surprisingly powerful ability to sequester carbon over millions of years. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-mineral-plate-tectonics-global-cooling.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 30 Nov 2023 11:00:01 EST news620557085 Coral reefs, among the most diverse and valuable ecosystems on Earth, are under threat due to the changing climate. In a new study, an international research team found that if reefs were to disappear entirely, it may take millions of years—even after environmental conditions improve—for them to recover. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-reefs-recovered-slowly-broader-ecosystem.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 30 Nov 2023 10:19:35 EST news620561973 Community members across Utah, the Great Basin, and around Lake Erie and Lake Ontario are invited to join people across the country in contributing winter weather observations. The data is collected by scientists for a project that seeks to improve the accuracy of winter weather predictions. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-community-scientists-winter-weather.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 30 Nov 2023 06:30:30 EST news620548227 Man-made global warming exacerbated an incident of extreme flooding and heat in eastern China in 2020, according to a study released Wednesday, which highlighted the need to prepare for increasingly intense episodes of such weather in the country. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-climate-worsened-chinese-extreme-event.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 30 Nov 2023 03:12:45 EST news620536361 Lightning is one of the most spectacular natural phenomena. With technological advancements, researchers are using more advanced tools and methods to study lightning to better understand its complex physical processes. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-optimize-errors-traditional-interferometer-lightning.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 29 Nov 2023 15:55:35 EST news620495728 As the climate, demographics and land usage continue to change, tribal communities in Oklahoma are increasingly at risk of severe weather. A recent study led by Yang Hong with the University of Oklahoma examines these changes and the risks they pose. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-severe-weather-disproportionately-impacts-oklahoma.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 29 Nov 2023 13:13:19 EST news620485996 Nineteen million years ago, during a time known as the early Miocene, massive ice sheets in Antarctica rapidly and repeatedly grew and receded. The Miocene is widely considered a potential analog for Earth's climate in the coming century, should humanity remain on its current carbon emissions trajectory. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-antarctica-ancient-ice-sheets-foreshadow.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 29 Nov 2023 13:05:04 EST news620485501