https://phys.org/earth-news/environment en-us The latest news on the environment, environmental issues, earth science and space exploration. From time to time, when Earth's tectonic plates shift, the planet emits a long, slow belch of carbon dioxide. In a new modeling study published in Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, R. Dietmar Müller and colleagues show how this gas released from deep Earth may have affected the climate over the past billion years. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-advances-plate-tectonics-view-deep.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 07 Nov 2024 16:09:30 EST news650218164 Plastics are not as safe and inert as previously thought. A new research study written by an international team of researchers uses the planetary boundaries framework to structure the rapidly mounting evidence of the effects of plastics on the environment, health and human well-being. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-plastics-pollution-worsens-impacts-planetary.html Environment Thu, 07 Nov 2024 16:09:21 EST news650218156 Scientists have spotted microplastics, tiny pieces of plastic smaller than 5 millimeters, in some of the most pristine environments on Earth, from the depths of the Mariana Trench to the snow on Mt. Everest to the mountaintop clouds of China and Japan. Microplastics have been detected in human brains, the bellies of sea turtles and the roots of plants. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-microplastics-impact-cloud-formation-affecting.html Environment Thu, 07 Nov 2024 11:22:02 EST news650200914 An international team of forest and resource management specialists, ecologists and conservationists has verified the claims of China's national greenhouse gas inventories regarding major forest biomass carbon gains. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-satellite-based-evidence-china-forestation.html Environment Thu, 07 Nov 2024 11:20:57 EST news650200852 Tree planting has been widely touted as a cost-effective way of reducing global warming, due to trees' ability to store large quantities of carbon from the atmosphere. But, writing in the journal Nature Geoscience, an international group of scientists argue that tree planting at high latitudes will accelerate, rather than decelerate, global warming. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-trees-high-latitudes-arctic-decelerate.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 07 Nov 2024 11:00:01 EST news650193494 Higher temperatures caused by anthropogenic climate change made an ordinary drought into an exceptional drought that parched the American West from 2020–2022. A study by UCLA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration climate scientists has found that evaporation accounted for 61% of the drought's severity, while reduced precipitation only accounted for 39%. The research found that evaporative demand has played a bigger role than reduced precipitation in droughts since 2000, which suggests droughts will become more severe as the climate warms. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-climate-contributing-drought-american-west.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 06 Nov 2024 17:01:03 EST news650134861 University of Massachusetts Amherst researchers have discovered a new way to detect per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in water. This marks an important step forward in creating testing devices that are simpler, more cost-effective, faster and generally more accessible than existing methods. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-pfas-method-portable-accessible.html Environment Wed, 06 Nov 2024 14:00:01 EST news650116279 The eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai (HTHH) in January 2022 ejected about 2.9 billion tons of volcanic material into the atmosphere and across the South Pacific. In early 2022, a scientific expedition (GEOTRACES GP21) investigated the impact of this monumental event on the biogeochemistry of the South Pacific Gyre (SPG) surface waters. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-volcanic-ash-source-nutrients-hunga.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 06 Nov 2024 11:25:03 EST news650114701 At the end of the last global ice age, the deep-frozen Earth reached a built-in limit of climate change and thawed into a slushy planet. Results from a Virginia Tech-led study provide the first direct geochemical evidence of the slushy planet—otherwise known as the "plumeworld ocean" era—when sky-high carbon dioxide levels forced the frozen Earth into a massive, rapid melting period. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-earth-underwent-massive-rapid-period.html Earth Sciences Environment Tue, 05 Nov 2024 16:31:06 EST news650046657 The presence of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in all the world's oceans but one has been in steady decline since 2001, when 152 countries agreed on a comprehensive global ban. The exception has been the Arctic Ocean, which has seen a sharp rise in POPs in its frigid waters over the past several decades. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-decades-global-arctic-ocean-legacy.html Environment Tue, 05 Nov 2024 15:11:50 EST news650041904 More and more regions around the globe combine economic growth with reducing carbon emissions, researchers from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and the University of Potsdam found. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-regions-worldwide-economic-growth-carbon.html Environment Tue, 05 Nov 2024 07:55:04 EST news650015701 Bio-based materials may pose a greater health risk to some of the planet's most important species than the conventional plastics they are designed to replace, a new study has shown. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-bio-based-fibers-pose-greater.html Environment Tue, 05 Nov 2024 03:59:40 EST news650001574 Cities around the globe are increasingly experiencing dangerous heat as urban concrete and asphalt amplify rising temperatures. Tree-planting programs are a popular, nature-based way to cool cities, but these initiatives have been largely based on guesswork and extrapolation. A study published Monday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences offers a new tool for urban planners and decision makers to set more specific and science-based city-wide greening goals. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-trees-cool-city-tool-urban.html Environment Mon, 04 Nov 2024 17:15:03 EST news649962901 Scientists and environmental activists have consistently called for drastic reductions in meat production as a way to reduce emissions and, in doing so, combat climate change. However, a new analysis concludes that a smaller reduction, borne by wealthier nations, could remove 125 billion tons of carbon dioxide—exceeding the total number of global fossil fuel emissions over the past three years—from the atmosphere. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-small-reductions-meat-production-wealthier.html Earth Sciences Environment Mon, 04 Nov 2024 15:00:02 EST news649935134 PFAS are in Miami's rainwater. And it is the latest evidence the synthetic "forever chemicals"—that have raised health concerns for people and wildlife—hitch a ride on the water cycle, using the complex system to circulate over greater distances. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-rainwater-samples-reveals-literally-chemicals.html Environment Mon, 04 Nov 2024 13:27:51 EST news649949266 Imagine that a massive ice sheet covered Canada and oozed down over a large part of the northern United States, like icing spilling down the side of a cake. That was the situation somewhere between 19,000 and 26,000 years ago. The ice sheet covered land all the way south to modern-day Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-reveals-history-global-ice-sheet.html Earth Sciences Environment Mon, 04 Nov 2024 13:14:03 EST news649948441 The Amazon region is a global hotspot of biodiversity and plays a key role in the climate system because of its ability to store large amounts of carbon and its influence on the global water cycle. The rain forest is threatened, however, by climate change as well as by intensified deforestation activities. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-effects-atlantic-circulation-amazon-rainforest.html Earth Sciences Environment Mon, 04 Nov 2024 12:33:04 EST news649945982 Using a sophisticated new modeling approach, researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have estimated carbon dioxide emissions from inland waters to 22 million U.S. lakes, rivers and reservoirs. It marks the first time this approach has been applied at a continental scale, and reveals previous methods may have overestimated CO2 emissions by as much as 25%. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-carbon-emissions-million-stream.html Earth Sciences Environment Mon, 04 Nov 2024 12:28:04 EST news649945681 As the Earth faces unprecedented climate change, a look into the planet's deep past may provide vital insights into what may lie ahead. Knowledge of the natural world millions of years ago is fragmented, but a 15-year study of a site in Bolivia by an international team led by Case Western Reserve University provides a comprehensive view of an ancient ecosystem when the Earth was much warmer than today. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-ancient-climate-reconstruction-andes-mountains.html Earth Sciences Environment Mon, 04 Nov 2024 11:46:04 EST news649943161 When torrential rains and powerful winds hit densely populated coastal regions, whole cities can be destroyed—but governments and residents can take precautions with sufficient warning. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-scientist-equation-behavior-atmospheric-rivers.html Earth Sciences Environment Mon, 04 Nov 2024 11:18:04 EST news649941481 Climate change has a profound impact on historical societal transformations. A recent study by Chinese researchers has found that the collapse of the Ming Dynasty, one of the most important dynasties in Chinese history, may have been triggered by the Wanli megadrought, decades earlier than previous thought. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-collapse-ming-dynasty-began-wanli.html Earth Sciences Environment Mon, 04 Nov 2024 10:44:51 EST news649939489 Carbon sinks are important in the fight against climate change as they draw down atmospheric carbon dioxide levels by storing organic carbon in the oceans and soil, for example. Within tropical and subtropical intertidal locations, wetland plant communities, known as mangrove forests, are key carbon sinks of organic matter. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-mangrove-degradation-threatens-carbon-storage.html Earth Sciences Environment Mon, 04 Nov 2024 09:31:46 EST news649935101 A study published in the journal One Earth explores how marine biodiversity conservation, human health and well-being are connected. The results suggest that marine protected areas can be good for both planet and people. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-reveals-state-oceans-intrinsically-linked.html Environment Sun, 03 Nov 2024 11:30:01 EST news649679457 New studies about the Thwaites Glacier, also called the "Doomsday Glacier," have sparked a conversation about geoengineering as a climate change solution. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-doomsday-antarctic-glacier-faster-fueling.html Earth Sciences Environment Sun, 03 Nov 2024 06:00:01 EST news649680830 Africa's Sahara Desert may be considered a vast expanse of barren sand with limited vegetation, an extreme environment for plants and animals to thrive, but life always finds a way. Indeed, vegetation growth in the desert has waxed and waned over millennia, with periods of enhanced growth termed "greening." https://phys.org/news/2024-11-african-sahara-greening-northern-hemisphere.html Earth Sciences Environment Sat, 02 Nov 2024 10:00:02 EDT news649673954 From the development of new materials that make airplanes lighter to the exploration of alternative fuels, the aviation industry is making strides toward reducing its carbon footprint. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-scientists-contrail-formation-climate-impact.html Environment Fri, 01 Nov 2024 13:31:04 EDT news649686662 The Salton Sea, California's largest lake by surface area, is experiencing an increasing rate of shoreline retreat following a policy change that shifted more water from the Colorado River to San Diego, according to a newly published study. The resulting dried lakebed is creating more polluted dust from dried agricultural runoff that affects nearby communities, researchers said. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-california-salton-sea-receding-greater.html Earth Sciences Environment Fri, 01 Nov 2024 12:24:45 EDT news649682679 Air pollution, driven in large part by practices like crop burning, contributes to 2 million deaths a year in South Asia and persists as a public health emergency. But a new study co-led by Brown University researcher Gemma Dipoppa found that government incentives may be able to curb the illegal practice of crop burning, according to a study published in the journal Nature. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-interventions-deadly-air-pollution-south.html Environment Fri, 01 Nov 2024 12:21:03 EDT news649682461 As heat waves become more intense, cities are looking for strategies that can help keep neighborhoods cooler. A new tool developed by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin has already helped identify potential solutions in Houston, a city where the impact of heat can vary significantly in different communities. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-trees-cool-roofs-vulnerable-houston.html Earth Sciences Environment Fri, 01 Nov 2024 10:10:18 EDT news649674615 A trio of atmospheric scientists at Colorado State University has found evidence suggesting that western boundary currents have a bigger impact on local climate variability than has been previously thought. https://phys.org/news/2024-11-western-boundary-currents-bigger-impact.html Earth Sciences Environment Fri, 01 Nov 2024 09:35:06 EDT news649672498