Phys.org Earth Science

• 'Life is a miracle,' but learning from disasters isn't: Lessons from Japan's 2011 earthquake and tsunami

  In April 2012, a Harley-Davidson motorcycle was found on Graham Island in the Haida Gwaii archipelago off the coast of British Columbia. It belonged to Ikuo Yokoyama, a survivor of the earthquake and tsunami that struck northeastern Japan a year earlier, in March 2011. Yokoyama lost his home and three family members.

• Avalanche risks are rising—researchers say governance must rise with them

  The findings of a new paper show governance and preparedness rather than hazard magnitude determine whether avalanches become mass-casualty events. With large ice-rock avalanches growing in frequency as steep slopes in the Himalaya become unstable due to rapid glacier retreat, extreme precipitation and permafrost degradation, scientists believe saving lives, protecting infrastructure and reducing long-term economic losse s in some of the world's most hazard-exposed regions could be achieved through several practical steps.

• Models warn Thwaites Glacier could rival entire Antarctic ice loss by 2067

  The future of one of Antarctica's most iconic glaciers could be far more dramatic than scientists previously thought. Using satellite calibrated ice sheet models, a team of researchers from the University of Edinburgh found that the Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica could be shedding 180–200 gigatonnes of ice per year by 2067—a rate roughly comparable to the entire Antarctic ice sheet's current mass loss. That would represent a stunning acceleration in ice loss from a single glacier and underlines urgent concerns about future contributions to sea level rise.

• Alaska's glacial lakes are expanding, increasing the risk of destructive outburst floods

  Every summer, people living near the Mendenhall River in Juneau, Alaska, keep a close eye on the water level. When the river level begins to rise rapidly, it's a sign that Suicide Basin, a small glacier-dammed lake 5 miles up the mountains, has broken through the glacier again and a glacial lake outburst flood is underway.

• Eaton fire sent a pollution wave across Los Angeles, study shows

  The 2025 Eaton fire's smoke did more than darken the sky: It generated a carbon monoxide and particulate matter surge that far exceeded Los Angeles County's average daily human-caused emissions, according to a new study led by researchers at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. The findings are published in the journal ACS ES&T Air.

• Tsunami risks in the Mediterranean: Why Nice should prepare an evacuation plan

  The Mediterranean Sea is widely perceived as having a low tsunami risk. History and recent modeling technology have demonstrated that destructive waves have already hit the French coast and could do so again. The results of a project carried out in Nice and along the French Riviera show why anticipation and preventive evacuation measures remain the only truly effective means of saving lives.

• Why swimmers still dive in: Research shows how UK communities navigate polluted waters

  More than 7.5 million people immerse themselves in lakes, rivers, seas and lidos every year in the UK. But getting in the water means getting in pollution too for most outdoor swimmers. Raw sewage was discharged into UK waters for 4.7 million hours during 2024. But sewage is only part of the water pollution problem. Rain washing into rivers and streams contains fertilizers, pesticides and animal waste from farmlands, forever chemicals from car tires, plus drugs from our own bodies. Industry deregulation and privatization have produced a water crisis.

• Improperly disposed wet wipes could shed microplastics in rivers

  Wet wipes conveniently clean and sanitize soiled surfaces and skin. Because some labels do not clearly indicate how consumers should dispose of them, these small cloths are often flushed down the toilet and released by sewage plants into waterways. Now, researchers report in ACS ES&T Water that some of these wipes break down into plastic fibers, or microplastics, that could harm aquatic life.

• As CO₂ rose in a warm ancient climate, study shows El Niño peaked then weakened

  The Miocene, beginning approximately 23 million years ago, represents a canonical "warm-Earth" interval characterized by elevated atmospheric CO2 and a warmer global climate. The El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), as a leading mode of interannual climate variability, exerts pronounced influences on global precipitation patterns and the occurrence of climate extremes. Investigating ocean–atmosphere variability under Miocene-like high-CO2 background states therefore provides a valuable framework for evaluating climate-model performance in warm climates and for informing expectations of ENSO behavior under continued anthropogenic warming.

• Study reveals North Atlantic warming contributed to intensity of Valencia DANA storm

  The episode of extreme rainfall that affected the east of the Iberian Peninsula at the end of October 2024 left a devastating mark on the province of Valencia. In some areas, such as Turís, more than 700 liters per square meter were recorded in 24 hours; in other words, in just one day, more water fell than the average rainfall in mainland Spain in an entire year. This caused catastrophic flooding and the disaster resulted in more than 200 deaths, as well as billions of euros in damage.

• Proposing simple measures to prevent industry dumping plastic pellets into the sea

  The presence of small plastic pellets on the beaches of Donostia and Orio has drawn attention to a little-studied source of pollution: leakage of industrial microplastics that reach the sea through stormwater drainage networks. Researchers in the Materials + Technologies Group at the EHU have identified two control parameters that would enable early detection of these losses to be made, and have proposed containment measures that can be easily incorporated into discharge regulations.

• Do schools' car-free drop-offs really work?

  It's a familiar sight at schools across the country: a line of slow-moving vehicles pulling up to the curb before a child jumps out. A similar scene plays out in the afternoons, only with children hopping into cars waiting to pick them up.

• A pathway to achieve high well-being and a safe climate without relying on GDP growth

  Governments' attempts to achieve climate goals are falling short, in large part because wealthy economies are continuing to pursue economic growth. As these economies ramp up production and consumption, they make climate mitigation more difficult to achieve. As a result, the Paris Agreement is slipping out of reach, putting nature and human societies in jeopardy.

• US weather to go nuts with blizzard, polar vortex, heat dome, atmospheric river all at once

  Nearly every part of the United States is getting walloped by wild weather or just about to be.

• A race against time to save Alpine ice cores that record medieval mining, fires, and volcanoes

  Ice cores taken from glaciers reveal the air pollution of the past, using atmospheric particles incorporated in snow that fell on the glacier and became ice. Now, scientists have extracted a record of thousands of years' worth of air pollution from 9.5 meters of ice at the Weißseespitze glacier, close to the border between Austria and Italy. But this ice is under threat from global warming, and scientists warn that it is now a race against time to capture critical climate information locked in these glaciers before it's gone forever.

• Global observations reveal rapid reorganization of ocean nutrients

  From coral reefs and kelp forests to the open ocean and deep-sea zones, nutrients that support phytoplankton growth and marine productivity form the foundation of oceanic ecosystems. When levels of key nutrients—such as nitrate and phosphate—get too high or too low, these ecosystems may face major disruption. However, at a global scale, long-term trends in marine nitrate and phosphate levels have been unclear.

• Documenting conflict between commerce and conservation at a mining operation in Bangladesh

  A new study using multidecade satellite imagery and face-to-face human interviews tracked the environmental and societal impacts of gravel mining in the Lubha River, Northeast Bangladesh. The researchers found that the river had recovered its natural shape within just four years after gravel mining stopped. However, the local economy did not bounce back nearly as quickly.

• Industrial climate targets do not always reflect what companies actually do

  Is industry doing enough for the climate—or are many efforts still largely plans on paper? A new study from Chalmers University of Technology examines how Sweden's 20 largest industrial emitters are working toward the goal of net-zero emissions by 2045.

• Climate change is slowing Earth's spin at unprecedented rate compared to past 3.6 million years

  Climate change is lengthening our days because rising sea levels slow Earth's rotation. Researchers from the University of Vienna and ETH Zurich now show that the current increase in day length—1.33 milliseconds per century—is unprecedented in the past 3.6 million years. The team reconstructed ancient day-length fluctuations using the fossil remains of single-celled marine organisms known as benthic foraminifera.

• Reduced-impact management can promote forest recovery and carbon storage

  The adoption of management techniques that reduce the impact of timber harvesting can promote the recovery of tropical forests, such as the Amazon, and store carbon in the long term while maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services. Research published in the Journal of Environmental Management provides evidence that these good practices increase above-ground biomass, unlike conventional logging. This reinforces the effectiveness of reduced-impact logging forest management (RIL-FM) as a strategy that reconciles timber production, forest conservation, and climate change mitigation.

• Uncovering a patchwork of fresh and salty groundwater beneath Great Salt Lake's south shore

  Thanks to upstream diversions and climate change, Utah's Great Salt Lake has shrunk by 70% since 1989, exposing about 800 square miles of playa and mudflats—along with numerous curiosities. While a potential environmental catastrophe, the lake's dewatering presents numerous research opportunities for University of Utah geoscientists, including several who are looking to characterize the extent, characteristics, chemistry and flow of a mysterious, mostly freshwater aquifer under the playa.

• Saharan dust swept into Europe in March, triggering 'dirty rain' episodes

  Winter winds lofted clouds of dust from the Sahara Desert, carrying it north toward the Mediterranean and dispersing it widely across Europe in March 2026. When the dust combined with moisture-laden weather systems, a dirty rain fell in parts of Spain, France, and the United Kingdom.

• The rain in Spain was worst in nearly 50 years

  Spain endured its wettest January and February in almost half a century, with a string of deadly storms lashing the country, national weather agency AEMET said Thursday.

• Wetlands in Brazil's Cerrado are carbon-storage powerhouses

  The Amazon rainforest is famous for storing massive amounts of carbon in its trees and soils, helping regulate the global climate. Yet a paper published in New Phytologist shows that one of South America's largest carbon-storing ecosystems exists in an often-overlooked grassy savanna: the Cerrado in Brazil.

• Study maps four flood model types and urges hybrid approaches to improve forecasts

  Before rain begins to fall, scientists and engineers can predict where a storm might cause flooding thanks to advanced modeling and digital simulations that help guide billion-dollar decisions involving infrastructure design, emergency response, land-use planning, insurance, agriculture, water quality, and public safety.