Category: Earth
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Wetter 21st Century Predicted for High Mountain Asia – Impacting Water Resources for Billions
Moisture from the Indian Ocean passing through the Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon “channel” to the Tibetan Plateau, taken in Medog, China. Credit: Weibiao Li Researchers predict a wetter 21st century for High Mountain Asia, despite current drying trends, due to shifts in aerosol emissions and consistent greenhouse gas effects, impacting water resources for billions. High…
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Cleaner air brings wetter weather in High Mountain Asia
Moisture from the Indian Ocean passing through the Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon “channel” to the Tibetan Plateau, taken in Medog, China. Credit: LI Weibiao High Mountain Asia (HMA), encompassing the Tibetan Plateau and the surrounding Hindu Kush, Karakoram, and Himalayan ranges, harbors the world’s third-largest amount of glacial ice. It is the source of more…
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Massive Undersea Water Reservoir Discovered – Could Explain New Zealand’s Mysterious Earthquakes
A seismic imaging instrument trails behind a research vessel during a survey of New Zealand’s Hikurangi subduction zone. Led by the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics, the survey found a vast and ancient water reservoir buried miles beneath the seafloor. Credit: University of Texas Institute for Geophysics/Adrien Arnulf A significant water reservoir discovered beneath…
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Billions at Risk of Extreme Temperatures Surpassing Human Tolerance
If global temperatures rise by 1°C or more, billions will face extreme heat and humidity, hindering natural cooling, according to new research. Exceeding 1.5°C above preindustrial levels will drastically impact human health, as humans have limits to how much heat and humidity they can tolerate. A rise of 1 degree Celsius (C) or more in…
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Monitoring African copper and cobalt mining emissions from space
Credit: CC0 Public Domain Emissions associated with mining operations in Africa’s Copperbelt can be quantified from space, according to new research led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). Mining for copper and cobalt in Africa has rapidly increased, the latter in response to growing global demand for electric vehicles, laptops, smartphones, and other…
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The changing climate creates more noise in the oceans
Sound speed difference between (2018 to 2022) and (2094 to 2098) for SSP5-8.5. Maps of the difference in 5 years mean of sound speed (c) in m s−1 between (2018 to 2022) and (2094 to 2098) at (A) 5, (B) 125, (C) 300 and (D) 640 m depth calculated for SSP5-8.5. The black dots indicate…
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Study shows live plant pathogens can travel on dust across oceans
Variable spore map where colors depict F. oxy spore concentration in soil [spores g−1]. The map was built using the web map of global F. oxy distribution as a foundation (Calderón et al 2022). We calculated an F. oxy survey effort ratio which reduces the geographical biases that the web map inevitably shows. This ratio…
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Lethal climate change millions of years ago was due to volcanic eruptions, scientists conclude
Credit: CC0 Public Domain Climate change that has occurred over the past 260 million years and brought about mass extinctions of life during these periods was due to massive volcanic eruptions and subsequent environmental crises, concludes a team of scientists. Its analysis, which appears in the journal Earth-Science Reviews, shows that these eruptions released large…
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New research offers a theory on how gold, platinum, and other precious metals found their way into Earth’s mantle
Artistic rendering of a large collision on the early Earth. Credit: SwRI/Marchi Scientists at Yale and the Southwest Research Institute (SRI) say they’ve hit the jackpot with some valuable new information about the story of gold. It’s a story that begins with violent collisions of large objects in space, continues in a half-melted region of…
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Volcanic fallout from Taupō eruption 1,800 years ago found in Antarctic ice core
Lake Taupō. Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Volcanic debris from the massive Taupō eruption about 1,800 years ago has been found buried deep in Antarctic ice, according to a new study published in Scientific Reports. Scientists have been hunting for evidence of the eruption for more than a decade, hoping it would help pin down the…