Geoscience: Environmental Issues Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

How climate change impacts the Indian Ocean dipole, leading to severe droughts and floods      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers now have a much better understanding of how climate change can impact and cause sea water temperatures on one side of the Indian Ocean to be so much warmer or cooler than the temperatures on the other -- a phenomenon that can lead to sometimes deadly weather-related events like megadroughts in East Africa and severe flooding in Indonesia.

Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Climate risk insurance can effectively mitigate economic losses      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Global warming is expected to lead to an accumulation of particularly intense hurricanes in the United States. This may substantially increase the economic losses caused by these storms. Better insurance could effectively mitigate the climate change-induced increase in economic losses. This is shown in a new study examining the effectiveness of climate risk insurance in the US.

Geoscience: Earthquakes Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

The adverse health effects of disaster-related trauma      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new study has found that individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to experience disaster-related home loss, and they are also more likely to develop functional limitations following the disaster. 

Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Skiing over Christmas holidays no longer guaranteed -- even with snow guns      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

For many people, holidays in the snow are as much a part of the end of the year as Christmas trees and fireworks. As global warming progresses, however, white slopes are becoming increasingly rare. Researchers have calculated how well one of Switzerland's largest ski resorts will remain snow reliable with technical snow-making by the year 2100, and how much water this snow will consume.

Energy: Alternative Fuels Geoscience: Geology Geoscience: Geomagnetic Storms Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

New study models the transmission of foreshock waves towards Earth      (via sciencedaily.com) 

As the supersonic solar wind surges towards Earth, its interaction with our planet's magnetic field creates a shock to deflect its flow, and a foreshock filled with electromagnetic waves. How these waves can propagate to the other side of the shock has long remained a mystery.

Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Warming oceans likely to shrink the viable habitat of many marine animals -- but not all      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new article adds a new chapter to the story of how some animals may respond to the warming oceans.

Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Researchers investigate development of coastal peatland in Indonesia over thousands of years      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Tropical peatlands are one of the most efficient carbon sinks. The flipside is that they can become massive emitters of carbon if they are damaged, for instance by land use change, degradation or fire. This can lead to faster climate warming. Researchers now show how peatland in the coastal areas in Sumatra and Borneo in Indonesia developed over thousands of years and how climate and sea level influenced their dynamics throughout.

Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Past eight years: Warmest since modern recordkeeping began      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Earth's global average surface temperature in 2021 tied with 2018 as the sixth warmest on record, according to independent analyses done by NASA and NOAA. Collectively, the past eight years are the warmest years since modern recordkeeping began in 1880.

Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

New insights into sea ice and climate change      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A 170 m record of marine sediment cores extracted from Adélie Land in Antarctica is yielding new insights into the complicated relationship between sea ice and climate change.

Geoscience: Geomagnetic Storms Geoscience: Severe Weather Space: The Solar System
Published

New study ties solar variability to the onset of decadal La Nina events      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new study shows a correlation between the end of solar cycles and a switch from El Nino to La Nina conditions in the Pacific Ocean, suggesting that solar variability can drive seasonal weather variability on Earth.

Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Antarctic seals reveal worrying threats to disappearing glaciers      (via sciencedaily.com) 

More Antarctic meltwater is surfacing than was previously known, modifying the climate, preventing sea ice from forming and boosting marine productivity- according to new research. For the first time, researchers have been able to obtain full-depth glacial meltwater observations in winter, using instruments attached to the heads of seals living near the Pine Island Glacier, in the remote Amundsen Sea in the west of Antarctica.

Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Researchers use car collisions with deer to study mysterious animal-population phenomena      (via sciencedaily.com) 

By parsing data on weather, deer populations and deer-vehicle collisions in Wisconsin, investigators show spatial synchrony could be driving population cycles, rather than the reverse.

Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

2020 tied for warmest year on record, NASA analysis shows      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Earth's global average surface temperature in 2020 tied with 2016 as the warmest year on record, according to an analysis by NASA.

Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Largest study of Asia's rivers unearths 800 years of paleoclimate patterns      (via sciencedaily.com) 

The SUTD study will be crucial for assessing future climatic changes and making more informed water management decisions.

Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Previously undescribed lineage of Archaea illuminates microbial evolution      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Scientists describe a previously unknown phylum of aquatic Archaea that are likely dependent on partner organisms for growth while potentially being able to conserve some energy by fermentation.

Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

How new data can make ecological forecasts as good as weather forecasts      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Soon, ecologists thinks we'll be able to pull off the same forecasting feat for bird migrations and wildlife populations as for climate forecasts. That's because just as those recurring changes in climate have predictable consequences for humans, they also have predictable effects on plants and animals.

Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Improved estimates of Brazilian Amazon gains and losses      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new study generated improved annual maps of tropical forest cover in the Brazilian Amazon in 2000-2017 and provided better characterization on the spatio-temporal dynamics of forest area, loss and gain in this region. The Amazon basin has the largest tropical forests in the world. Rapid changes in land use, climate and other human activities have resulted in substantial deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon over the past several decades.

Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Indian Ocean causes drought and heatwaves in South America      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Researchers have revealed that atmospheric waves originating from convection over the Indian Ocean had a dramatic impact on climate conditions over South America and South Atlantic, leading to drought and marine heatwaves. Importantly, these conditions are not a one-off and are likely to happen again.

Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Unprecedented number of warm-water species moved northward during marine heatwave      (via sciencedaily.com) 

A new study documents an unprecedented number of southern marine species moving northward into California and as far north as Oregon during the 2014-2016 marine heatwave. Of 67 rare, warm-water species sightings observed, 37 had never been documented so far north before.

Geoscience: Severe Weather
Published

Climate change leading to water shortage in Andes, Himalayas      (via sciencedaily.com) 

Climate change could have devastating effects on vulnerable residents in the Andes mountains and the Tibetan plateau, according to researchers who have been studying glaciers in those areas for decades.