https://phys.org/earth-news/environment en-us The latest news on the environment, environmental issues, earth science and space exploration. The carbon stored globally by plants is shorter-lived and more vulnerable to climate change than previously thought, according to a new study. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-carbon-shorter-periods-thought.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 20 Jun 2024 14:00:02 EDT news638092682 A team of Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists plan to use artificial intelligence modeling to forecast, and better understand, a growing threat to water caused by toxic algal blooms. Fueled by climate change and rising water temperatures, these harmful algal blooms, or HABs, have grown in intensity and frequency. They have now been reported in all 50 U.S. states. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-ai-toxic-blue-green-tides.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 20 Jun 2024 12:15:48 EDT news638104544 In a warming climate, cloud patterns are changing in ways that amplify global warming. A team of researchers led by Professor Johannes Quaas from Leipzig University and Hao Luo and Professor Yong Han from Sun Yat-sen University in China have discovered increasingly asymmetric changes in cloud cover—cloud cover decreases more during the day than at night. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-shifting-cloud-patterns-exacerbating-climate.html Environment Thu, 20 Jun 2024 09:50:01 EDT news638095267 At approximately 4:10 p.m. on January 1, 2024, the Noto region of Ishikawa Prefecture in Japan was hit by a large earthquake with a moment magnitude (Mw) of 7.5. This earthquake, known as the 2024 Noto Peninsula earthquake, registered a maximum seismic intensity of 7 on the Japanese scale and caused widespread damage, including numerous casualties. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-noto-peninsula-earthquake-quiet-rupture.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 20 Jun 2024 09:41:00 EDT news638095259 In developed countries such as Japan, wastewater systems designed to keep harmful pollutants out of storm drainage are aging and deteriorating, sending contaminants into local bodies of water. Finding the source of a leak in wastewater systems that are often buried far underground can be challenging. The conventional method can miss leaks, and it cannot detect leaks found downstream. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-caffeine-marker-wastewater-leaks-storm.html Environment Wed, 19 Jun 2024 13:33:21 EDT news638022798 In the late 2000s, Scott Saleska noticed something strange going on in the Amazon rainforest. In 2005, a massive drought struck the region. Two years later, Saleska—a University of Arizona professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology—published surprising research that used satellite images to find that the drought resulted in more green growth in large swaths of the Amazon. On the other hand, field researchers saw plants turn brown and some die in response to the drought. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-drought-amazon-vulnerable-climate.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 19 Jun 2024 11:00:01 EDT news637947509 Much of the methane released into the southern Baltic Sea from the Nord Stream gas pipeline has remained in the water. This is shown by measurements taken by researchers from the University of Gothenburg. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-nord-stream-gas-sea-explosion.html Environment Wed, 19 Jun 2024 05:00:01 EDT news637939201 A new study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters reveals that the environmental impact of the February 3, 2023, Norfolk Southern train accident in East Palestine, Ohio covered a very large geographical area. Inorganic pollutants released due to the accident were found in wet weather downfall (wet deposition) from the Midwest through the Northeast, reaching as far as southern Canada and North Carolina. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-ohio-derailment-chemical-pollution-falling.html Environment Wed, 19 Jun 2024 04:00:01 EDT news637940166 Roughly one in four U.S. households have soil exceeding the new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's lead screening levels of 200 parts per million (ppm), halved from the previous level of 400 ppm, a new study found. For households with exposure from multiple sources, the EPA lowered the guidance to 100 ppm; nearly 40% of households exceed that level, the study also found. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-residential-yards-exceeds-epa-soil.html Earth Sciences Environment Tue, 18 Jun 2024 16:37:40 EDT news637947458 Just how much heat does city sprawl add to large-scale warming? That's one longstanding question researchers sought to answer in a new study recently published in the journal One Earth. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-city-sprawl-large-sway-global.html Environment Tue, 18 Jun 2024 15:27:06 EDT news637943222 An international study led by scientists from IRD, CNRS and MNHN reveals the massive increase in the global economic cost of the invasive Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, vectors of dengue fever, chikugunya and the Zika virus, over the last few decades. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-reveals-huge-global-economic-invasive.html Environment Tue, 18 Jun 2024 12:47:33 EDT news637933649 Europe experienced its coldest winter in 600 years during 1739–1740, ~4 °C cooler than the present average, also coinciding with negative temperature anomalies across North America and Eurasia. Indeed, for northern midlatitudes (35–70 °N) as a whole, it may have been the coldest season in the last 300 years. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-year-coldest-central-europe-years.html Earth Sciences Environment Tue, 18 Jun 2024 06:40:01 EDT news637846554 A new UC Riverside study shows soot from large wildfires in California traps sunlight, making days warmer and drier than they ought to be. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-large-wildfires-weather-favors.html Earth Sciences Environment Tue, 18 Jun 2024 06:29:55 EDT news637910981 Record snowfall in recent years has not been enough to offset long-term drying conditions and increasing groundwater demands in the U.S. Southwest, according to a new analysis of NASA satellite data. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-satellites-didnt-offset-southwestern-groundwater.html Earth Sciences Environment Mon, 17 Jun 2024 15:15:04 EDT news637856101 Detecting marine debris from space is now a reality, according to a new study led by the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC) and the University of Cadiz recently published in the journal Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-proof-concept-satellites-marine-debris.html Earth Sciences Environment Mon, 17 Jun 2024 11:57:04 EDT news637844221 A team of researchers from the University of Exeter have shone fresh light on the causes of Oceanic Anoxic Event 2—which saw severe global warming and ocean acidification across the Earth around 94 million years ago. The study is published in Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-scientists-significant-climate-catastrophes.html Earth Sciences Environment Mon, 17 Jun 2024 10:27:53 EDT news637838871 New research by Cardiff University's Otter Project has found that PFAS, also known as "forever chemicals," present in English otters, raising concerns about potential health impacts in the future. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-chemicals-english-otters.html Environment Mon, 17 Jun 2024 10:14:30 EDT news637838067 Barrier islands dot the landscape along Virginia's Eastern Shore, protecting the coastline from direct impacts of storms and sea-level rise. Made of sand, they are created and changed by environmental factors. But with climate change and human development, these natural processes can be disrupted. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-qa-barrier-islands-dunes-coastlines.html Earth Sciences Environment Fri, 14 Jun 2024 13:01:42 EDT news637588899 From the air you breathe to the seafood you eat, marine algae have some involvement—they consume carbon dioxide and produce oxygen through photosynthesis and feed fish and shellfish. One day, marine algae could also be used to make widely available eco-friendly plastics or fuel. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-harvest-acid-seawater-beneficial-algae.html Environment Fri, 14 Jun 2024 11:10:01 EDT news637581701 A study by researchers from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), published in Nature Sustainability, reaffirms the world's growing dependence on depleting groundwater systems. Although efforts to slow down groundwater depletion need to be urgently accelerated, the study indicates that such efforts—in the absence of other accompanying measures—would likely lead to significant food security impacts. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-emphasizes-offs-groundwater-depletion-food.html Environment Fri, 14 Jun 2024 11:02:07 EDT news637581724 Most people today would lean towards environmentally-friendly life choices, but not at the expense of being clean. When it comes to our washing habits, the fear of being perceived as dirty often wins out over the desire to act in an environmentally friendly way. And the more inclined we are to feel disgusted, the more we wash our clothes. This is shown by a unique study from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, that examines the driving forces behind our laundering behaviors and provides new tools for how people's environmental impact can be reduced. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-yuck-factor-counteracts-sustainable-laundry.html Environment Thu, 13 Jun 2024 14:00:02 EDT news637490282 The important role of the Southern Ocean in global biological processes and the carbon cycle has been confirmed anew by a study published in Science that, for the first time based on field evidence, reveals the underappreciated role of inorganic zinc (Zn) particles in these cycles. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-scientists-unravel-drivers-global-zinc.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 13 Jun 2024 14:00:02 EDT news637488961 Video footage of Iceland's 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption is providing researchers from the University of Cambridge with rare, up-close observations of volcanic ash clouds—information that could help better forecast how far explosive eruptions disperse their hazardous ash particles. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-video-analysis-iceland-eruption-volcanic.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 13 Jun 2024 12:10:30 EDT news637499426 When it comes to the ocean's response to global warming, we're not in entirely uncharted waters. A UC Riverside study shows that episodes of extreme heat in Earth's past caused the exchange of waters from the surface to the deep ocean to decline. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-ancient-ocean-slowdown-future-climate.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 13 Jun 2024 10:14:36 EDT news637492473 Climate changes, but not always for the same reason. Today's rapid climate change is due entirely to man. The Holocene—the last 12,000 years—has been seen as having a stable climate, with a lack of chaos that allowed humans to settle down, develop agriculture, build civilizations and thrive. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-uncovering-prolonged-cooling-events-holocene.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 13 Jun 2024 08:00:01 EDT news637408553 When old satellites fall into Earth's atmosphere and burn up, they leave behind tiny particles of aluminum oxide, which eat away at Earth's protective ozone layer. A new study finds that these oxides have increased 8-fold between 2016 and 2022 and will continue to accumulate as the number of low-Earth-orbit satellites skyrockets. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-satellite-megaconstellations-jeopardize-recovery-ozone.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 12 Jun 2024 14:21:04 EDT news637420861 About 2.5 billion years ago, free oxygen, or O2, first started to accumulate to meaningful levels in Earth's atmosphere, setting the stage for the rise of complex life on our evolving planet. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-earth-great-oxidation-event-million.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 12 Jun 2024 11:00:01 EDT news637403221 A key to improving climate prediction is to improve understanding of the impact of aerosol on clouds, commonly known as the aerosol-cloud-interaction, according to a new study led by Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center (ESSIC) researchers published in Science Advances. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-aerosols-affect-climate-previously-thought.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 12 Jun 2024 10:21:49 EDT news637406505 Global warming is an omnipresent issue, with widespread initiatives to draw down emissions and mitigate against the International Panel on Climate Change's worse-case scenario predictions of 3.2°C of warming by 2100 (relative to pre-Industrial levels). Current measurements stand at 1.1°C of warming across Earth, but polar regions are experiencing enhanced surface warming compared to the rest of the planet. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-arctic-global-patterns.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 12 Jun 2024 07:50:01 EDT news637315541 Emissions of nitrous oxide—a greenhouse gas more potent than carbon dioxide or methane—continued unabated between 1980 and 2020, a year when more than 10-million metric tons were released into the atmosphere primarily through farming practices, according to a new report by the Global Carbon Project. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-human-nitrous-oxide-emissions-grew.html Earth Sciences Environment Tue, 11 Jun 2024 18:00:01 EDT news637323463