Phys.org Earth Science

• 'Bigger, hotter, faster': Extreme blazes drive rise in CO₂ fire emissions

  Rampant wildfires in the Americas drove a jump in global greenhouse gas emissions from fires in the year to February, new research found Thursday, warning that climate change was fanning the flames.

• Deadly floods in Mexico another sign of need for improved severe weather warnings

  The most recent torrential rains in east-central Mexico, which have left at least 76 dead and dozens more missing, have raised questions again about the government's ability to alert people to severe weather in time.

• Southern Ocean's low-salinity Antarctic waters continue absorbing CO₂ despite climate model predictions

  Climate models suggest that climate change could reduce the Southern Ocean's ability to absorb carbon dioxide (CO2). However, observational data actually shows that this ability has seen no significant decline in recent decades.

• Temperature corrections boost accuracy of coastal ocean color satellites

  Ocean color satellites provide essential insights into water quality and ecosystem dynamics by estimating chlorophyll, suspended matter, and dissolved organic material. Atmospheric correction, the process of removing scattering and absorption from satellite signals, is central to these analyses.

• AI-driven mapping captures daily global land changes

  Accurate land cover mapping underpins biodiversity protection, climate adaptation, and sustainable land use. Despite advances in remote sensing, satellite-only approaches remain limited by cloud cover, revisit intervals, and the lack of ground-truth data. Dynamic products such as Dynamic World have improved timeliness but still struggle to capture sudden transitions or validate their results.

• Mapping China's cities at submeter precision

  Land use and land cover (LULC) information underpins studies in climate science, disaster management, food security, and ecosystem protection. Advances in satellite imaging have improved resolution, but high-resolution land cover mapping still faces major hurdles.

• US sinks international deal on decarbonizing ships

  An international vote to approve cutting maritime emissions was delayed by a year Friday in a victory for the United States, which opposes the carbon-cutting plan.

• Experts warn carbon credits undermine global efforts to limit warming

  With world leaders set to gather in Brazil for COP30 in November, new analysis from an international team of climate policy experts warns that carbon offsets are creating a critical barrier to achieving the Paris Agreement's temperature targets.

• Sedimentary rocks reveal ancient ocean floor cooling

  Rocks store information from long ago. For instance, their composition can reveal the environmental conditions during their formation. This makes them extremely important in climate research. This led a research team at the University of Göttingen and the GFZ Helmholtz Center for Geosciences to investigate the following: do "cherts"—sedimentary rocks that form when silica-rich sediment mud is buried hundreds of meters deep—reveal anything about the climate of the past?

• Report reveals nearly 80% of the world's poor live in regions exposed to climate hazards

  Nearly 8 in 10 people living in multidimensional poverty—887 million out of 1.1 billion globally—are directly exposed to climate hazards such as extreme heat, flooding, drought, or air pollution.

• Maritime sector to decide on plan to cut emissions opposed by US

  Member states of the International Maritime Organization will decide on Friday whether to formally adopt a plan to cut carbon emissions in the face of opposition from the United States.

• Study finds humans outweigh climate in depleting Arizona's water supply

  A study led by University of Arizona researchers shows that decades of groundwater pumping by humans has depleted Tucson-area aquifers far more than natural climate variation. Published in the journal Water Resources Research, the study provides the first multi-millennial reconstruction for the region that places human impacts on groundwater into long-term context.

• 'Less and less sea ice': Brazil woman sails solo through Arctic

  Brazilian navigator Tamara Klink told AFP she encountered "very little" sea ice on her solo sail through the Northwest Passage—a rare feat that would have been impossible without an icebreaker ship three decades ago.

• Nearly 900 mn poor people exposed to climate shocks, UN warns

  Nearly 80% of the world's poorest, or about 900 million people, are directly exposed to climate hazards exacerbated by global warming, bearing a "double and deeply unequal burden," the United Nations warned Friday.

• Decoding dangers of Arctic sea ice with radar, seismic methods and fiber-optic sensing

  Sea ice coverage in the Arctic Ocean is at one of its lowest levels on record, yet there's no unanimity on when that ice will disappear completely during summer months.

• Coral skeletons left by a medieval tsunami whisper a warning for Caribbean region

  Sometime between 1381 and 1391, an earthquake exceeding magnitude 8.0 rocked the northeastern Caribbean and sent a tsunami barreling toward the island of Anegada.

• Democratizing global climate modeling

  A new international study co-led by IIASA researchers and Japanese partners aims to democratize the way global climate scenarios are developed. The authors propose a transparent, inclusive research platform that invites participation from scientists worldwide—especially from emerging and developing regions—to ensure that the foundations of climate policy analysis are globally representative and equitable.

• Analysis details the where, and who, of increased hurricane power outages in the future

  Georgia and northern Florida are likely to be hardest hit by increasing hurricane-induced power outages along the Atlantic coast in the future, with Hispanic, non-white and low-income populations most affected, according to new research led by the University of Michigan.

• Snow dump and inactive landfills flagged as major methane polluters

  Montreal's methane (CH4) emissions are unevenly distributed across the island, with the highest concentrations in the city's east end, McGill researchers have found. The worst polluters include the city's largest snow dump, which emits methane at levels comparable to the city's current and former landfills, and natural gas leaks.

• Baltic Sea emerges as model for understanding consequences of climate change on coasts

  Under the lead of the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW), a review article outlined the state of the Baltic Sea coast and its expected development as a result of climate change. The article shows that the Baltic Sea can serve as a model for the consequences of climate change and that interdisciplinary research is needed to investigate changes in its shallow coastal zones. The focus is on researching the interactions between the coastal area and the open ocean and the aim is to develop a basis for marine conservation measures. The feature article was recently published in the journal Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science.

• Large fluctuations in sea level throughout the last ice age challenge understanding of past climate

  Large changes in global sea level, fueled by fluctuations in ice sheet growth and decay, occurred throughout the last ice age, rather than just toward the end of that period, a study published in the journal Science has found.

• Global research shows how Dust Bowl-type drought causes unprecedented productivity loss

  A global research effort led by Colorado State University shows that extreme, prolonged drought conditions in grasslands and shrublands would greatly limit the long-term health of crucial ecosystems that cover nearly half the planet. The findings are particularly relevant as climate change increases the possibility of more severe droughts in the future, potentially leading to a situation that echoes the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.

• Why climate summits fail, and three ways to save them

  Nearly three decades after the first UN climate conference, emissions are still rising. The global system for tackling climate change is broken—it's slow, cumbersome and undemocratic.

• Ancient ocean warming reveals new insights into stability of West Antarctic Ice Sheet

  The West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) is one of the most dynamic regions of the Antarctic continent. Much of its bed lies below sea level, making the region particularly sensitive to ocean warming. Understanding the development of the WAIS is central to anticipating future sea level changes. If the WAIS were to melt completely, global sea levels could rise by more than 4 meters.

• Research submarine Ran II to replace its predecessor that was lost under an Antarctic glacier

  The deal is done for the new underwater vehicle that will replace Ran, the submarine that was lost under a glacier in Antarctica in 2024. A large donation means that researchers at the University of Gothenburg can plan for new expeditions.