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Categories: Paleontology: Climate, Physics: General

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Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Severe Weather Paleontology: Climate
Published

Then vs. now: Did the Horn of Africa reach a drought tipping point 11,700 years ago?      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

If climate models predict that much of tropical Africa will become wetter with a warming climate, then why does it keep getting drier in the Horn of Africa?

Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geology Geoscience: Oceanography Paleontology: Climate Paleontology: General
Published

Invasion of the Arctic Ocean by Atlantic plankton species reveals a seasonally ice-free ocean during the last interglacial      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A subpolar species associated with Atlantic water expanded far into the Arctic Ocean during the Last Interglacial, analysis of microfossil content of sediment cores reveals. This implies that summers in the Arctic were ice free during this period.

Geoscience: Geology Geoscience: Oceanography Paleontology: Climate
Published

Past climate warming driven by hydrothermal vents      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

An international drilling expedition off the Norwegian coast confirms the theory that methane emissions from hydrothermal vents were responsible for global warming about 55 million years ago. The study shows that the vents were active in very shallow water depth or even above sea level, which would have allowed much larger amounts of methane to enter the atmosphere.

Biology: Marine Ecology: Sea Life Geoscience: Geology Geoscience: Oceanography Paleontology: Climate
Published

Nature's kitchen: how a chemical reaction used by cooks helped create life on Earth      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A chemical process used in the browning of food to give it its distinct smell and taste is probably happening deep in the oceans, where it helped create the conditions necessary for life. Known as the Maillard reaction after the French scientist who discovered it, the process converts small molecules of organic carbon into bigger molecules known as polymers. In the kitchen, it is used to create flavors and aromas out of sugars. But a research team argues that on the sea floor, the process has had a more fundamental effect, where it has helped to raise oxygen and reduce carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, to create the conditions for complex life forms to emerge and thrive on Earth.

Geoscience: Oceanography Geoscience: Severe Weather Paleontology: Climate
Published

North Atlantic Oscillation contributes to 'cold blob' in Atlantic Ocean      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A patch of ocean in the North Atlantic is stubbornly cooling while much of the planet warms. This anomaly -- dubbed the 'cold blob' -- has been linked to changes in ocean circulation, but a new study found changes in large-scale atmospheric patterns may play an equally important role, according to an international research team.

Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Environmental Issues Paleontology: Climate
Published

Insolation affected ice age climate dynamics      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

In past ice ages, the intensity of summer insolation affected the emergence of warm and cold periods and played an important role in triggering abrupt climate changes, a study by climate researchers, geoscientists, and environmental physicists suggests. Using stalagmites in the European Alps, they were able to demonstrate that warm phases appeared primarily when the summer insolation reached maxima in the Northern Hemisphere.

Geoscience: Environmental Issues Paleontology: Climate
Published

Greenland melted recently: High risk of sea level rise today      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A large portion of Greenland was an ice-free tundra landscape -- perhaps covered by trees and roaming woolly mammoths -- in the recent geologic past (about 416,000 years ago), a new study shows. The results help overturn a previous view that much of the Greenland ice sheet persisted for most of the last two and a half million years. Instead, moderate warming, from 424,000 to 374,000 years ago, led to dramatic melting. At that time, the melting of Greenland caused at least five feet of sea level rise, despite atmospheric levels of heat-trapping carbon dioxide being far lower than today (280 vs. 420 ppm). This indicates that the ice sheet on Greenland may be more sensitive to human-caused climate change than previously understood -- and will be vulnerable to irreversible, rapid melting in coming centuries.

Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geology Paleontology: Climate Paleontology: General
Published

Crawford Lake, Canada, chosen as the primary marker to identify the start of the Anthropocene epoch      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

An international team of researchers has chosen the location which best represents the beginnings of what could be a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene. The Anthropocene Working Group have put forward Crawford Lake, in Canada, as a Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the Anthropocene. A GSSP is an internationally agreed-upon reference point to show the start of a new geological period or epoch in layers of rock that have built up through the ages.

Ecology: Endangered Species Geoscience: Geology Paleontology: Climate Paleontology: General
Published

Global cooling caused diversity of species in orchids, confirms study      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Research shows global cooling of the climate 10 million years ago led to an explosion of diversity in terrestrial orchids.

Ecology: Endangered Species Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: Paleontology and Archeology Paleontology: Climate
Published

Why there are no kangaroos in Bali (and no tigers in Australia)      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers are using a new model to clarify why millions of years ago more animal species from Asia made the leap to the Australian continent than vice versa. The climate in which the species evolved played an important role.

Environmental: Ecosystems Geoscience: Environmental Issues Paleontology: Climate
Published

Shrinking Arctic glaciers are unearthing a new source of methane      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

As the Arctic warms, shrinking glaciers are exposing bubbling groundwater springs which could provide an underestimated source of the potent greenhouse gas methane, finds new research.

Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Severe Weather Paleontology: Climate
Published

New study reveals abrupt shift in tropical Pacific climate during Little Ice Age      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

An El Niño event has officially begun. The climate phenomenon, which originates in the tropical Pacific and occurs in intervals of a few years will shape weather across the planet for the next year or more and give rise to various climatic extremes. El Niño-like conditions can also occur on longer time scales of decades or centuries. This has been shown to have occurred in the recent past.

Geoscience: Earthquakes Geoscience: Geology Geoscience: Volcanoes Paleontology: Climate
Published

Research reveals sources of CO2 from Aleutian-Alaska Arc volcanoes      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Scientists have wondered what happens to the organic and inorganic carbon that Earth's Pacific Plate carries with it as it slides into the planet's interior along the volcano-studded Ring of Fire. A new study suggests a notable amount of such subducted carbon returns to the atmosphere rather than traveling deep into Earth's mantle.

Geoscience: Geology Geoscience: Volcanoes Paleontology: Climate
Published

Climate change will increase impacts of volcanic eruptions      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Volcanic disasters have been studied since Pompeii was buried in 79 A.D., leading the public to believe that scientists already know why, where, when and how long volcanoes will erupt. But a volcanologist said these fundamental questions remain a mystery.

Geoscience: Earth Science Geoscience: Geochemistry Geoscience: Geography Geoscience: Oceanography Paleontology: Climate
Published

There may be good news about the oceans in a globally warmed world      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

An analysis of oxygen levels in Earth's oceans may provide some rare, good news about the health of the seas in a future, globally warmed world. A study analyzing ocean sediment shows that ocean oxygen levels in a key area were higher during the Miocene warm period, some 16 million years ago when the Earth's temperature was hotter than it is today.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: General Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry Chemistry: Organic Chemistry Energy: Technology Environmental: General Environmental: Water Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Geochemistry Physics: General
Published

Don't wait, desalinate: A new approach to water purification      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A water purification system separates out salt and other unnecessary particles with an electrified version of dialysis. Successfully applied to wastewater with planned expansion into rivers and seas, the method saves money and saps 90% less energy than its counterparts.

Chemistry: Biochemistry Computer Science: General Computer Science: Quantum Computers Physics: General Physics: Quantum Computing Physics: Quantum Physics
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'Toggle switch' can help quantum computers cut through the noise      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

What good is a powerful computer if you can't read its output? Or readily reprogram it to do different jobs? People who design quantum computers face these challenges, and a new device may make them easier to solve.

Engineering: Nanotechnology Physics: General Physics: Optics Physics: Quantum Computing Physics: Quantum Physics
Published

Nanophotonics: Coupling light and matter      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Researchers have developed a metasurface that enables strong coupling effects between light and transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs).

Offbeat: General Offbeat: Space Physics: General Physics: Quantum Physics Space: Astronomy Space: Astrophysics Space: Cosmology Space: Exploration Space: General Space: Structures and Features
Published

Einstein and Euler put to the test at the edge of the Universe      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The cosmos is a unique laboratory for testing the laws of physics, in particular those of Euler and Einstein. Euler described the movements of celestial objects, while Einstein described the way in which celestial objects distort the Universe. Since the discovery of dark matter and the acceleration of the Universe's expansion, the validity of their equations has been put to the test: are they capable of explaining these mysterious phenomena? A team has developed the first method to find out. It considers a never-before-used measure: time distortion.