Phys.org Earth Science

• Report reveals 25% surge in global water use over two decades

  The world is rapidly losing its water supply, according to the World Bank's Global Water Monitoring Report. This global report, titled Continental Drying, highlights the water crisis using unprecedentedly detailed data. Researchers from the University of Twente made a key contribution to the section that reveals how much water we use, where it goes, and how we can use it more wisely.

• Early Triassic sediments reveal Earth's hidden wildfire past

  An international team of scientists, including a senior researcher at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, has uncovered new evidence of ancient wildfires that reshapes our understanding of Earth's turbulent Early Triassic epoch, about 250 million years ago.

• First complete record of global underground CO₂ storage released

  The first-ever audited account of the actual amounts of CO2 stored underground by CCS projects globally has been released. It was created by a new international consortium of scientists and industrial partners, including NTNU.

• Delaying net zero may mean centuries of hotter, longer, more frequent heat waves

  We must prepare for a future of frequent, deadly heat waves, which will worsen in severity the longer it takes to reach net zero, new research has shown.

• Lethal dose of plastics for ocean wildlife: Surprisingly small amounts can kill seabirds, sea turtles and marine mammals

  By studying more than 10,000 necropsies, researchers now know how much plastic it takes to kill seabirds, sea turtles, and marine mammals, and the lethal dose is much smaller than you might think. Their new study titled "A quantitative risk assessment framework for mortality due to macroplastic ingestion in seabirds, marine mammals, and sea turtles" is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

• Beyond the usual suspect: Nitrogen feeds algae blooms, researchers find

  Nitrogen is a bit of a conundrum. In its gaseous form it's the most abundant element in the atmosphere, but few organisms can readily use it. And while all living organisms contain nitrogen, a new University of Vermont study finds that even tiny amounts of nitrogen can fuel cyanobacterial blooms and disrupt lake ecosystems.

• Worries about climate change are waning in many well-off nations—but growing in Turkey, Brazil and India

  Polling on public attitudes to climate change show a dip in the numbers who worry about it in many high-income countries, compared with three years ago. This declining public concern will be a worry to those governments looking to push forward with new environmental measures.

• California beaches are holding steady or gaining width, showing more resilience than expected

  Two new studies from researchers at UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography provide encouraging news about California's beaches at both local and statewide scales.

• How adding plants to your driveway could reduce winter flood risks

  When it comes to adapting cities to a rapidly and dramatically changing climate, the garden is on the frontline of the fight. Gardens act as green sinkholes, allowing excess rainwater to escape, as well as helping to cool cities in summer.

• Reduced air pollution is making clouds reflect less sunlight

  Winter is setting in across the Northern Hemisphere, and with it, cold and cloudy winter days. Clouds play a vital role in the environment, providing rain but also reflecting sunlight before it reaches Earth's surface.

• Reducing arsenic in drinking water cuts risk of death, even after years of chronic exposure: 20-year study

  A 20-year study of nearly 11,000 adults in Bangladesh found that lowering arsenic levels in drinking water was associated with up to a 50% lower risk of death from heart disease, cancer and other chronic illnesses, compared with continued exposure.

• Sea ice melting intensifies warming and humidification of high Arctic land, study finds

  A research team has found that summer rainfall in the Arctic would increase by about 17% under 2°C global warming, approximately 16% of which is attributed to sea ice retreat. Their findings were published in Geophysical Research Letters.

• The fire is out, but Tongariro is now at risk of losing its unique biological legacy

  The sight of flames tearing across Tongariro National Park last week was heartbreaking for lovers of the landscape. It was also potentially disastrous for a world-renowned alpine ecosystem.

• Indigenous voices at COP30: The Amazon speaks—will the world listen?

  For the first time in the history of UN climate conferences, COP30 will take place in a rainforest. President Lula da Silva has described this symbolic venue as a clear political message: the world should listen to the Amazon and its people. His Minister of the Environment, Marina Silva, adds that the forest can "show us the way."

• Lab setup mimics Arctic erosion to find out why shorelines are crumbling

  Arctic coastlines are falling into the sea. Wave action, rising sea levels, and thawing permafrost are all contributing to the massive erosion that has forced whole towns to move farther from the water's edge.

• Global study offers first comprehensive assessment of lake water clarity changes

  A research team led by Profs. Zhang Yunlin and Shi Kun from the Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has completed its first global assessment of lake water clarity, uncovering widespread shifts driven by both climate change and human activities.

• 'Expulsion by suffocation': How soy expansion and herbicide use are displacing Amazonian communities

  In the heart of the Brazilian Amazon, the expansion of soy is not only transforming landscapes but also suffocating the communities that inhabit them. The intensive use of herbicides in soybean plantations— particularly glyphosate—has deeply disrupted the dynamics that sustain life in Amazonian communities and their relationship with the land.

• Massachusetts water resources body punts on permanently dumping sewage into Charles River

  The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority may have been caught loving that dirty water a little too much, as its board has halted a proposal that clean water advocates fear would dump sewage into the Charles River forever.

• Can we tap the ocean's power to capture carbon?

  The oceans have to play a role in helping humanity remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to curb dangerous climate warming. But are we ready to scale up the technologies that will do the job?

• Nearly 47 million Americans at high risk of potential health hazards from fossil fuel infrastructure, study finds

  Fossil fuels release pollutants into the air when extracted and burned, but there's more to their production than massive oil rigs diving deep into Earth and smoky power plants. Those processes are examples of only the first and last—and generally most visible—moments in a fossil fuel's five-stage journey.

• How deep does it go? World-first mapping reveals the true depth of Australia's deepest lake

  A high-tech mapping team from CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, has produced an incredible new view of one of Tasmania's most iconic natural features and Australia's deepest lake, Lake St Clair in Tasmania's central highlands.

• Satellites play critical role in tracking climate adaptation, researchers say

  Satellite-based Earth observation provides a unique and powerful tool in tracking climate adaptation, an international study involving University of Galway researchers has shown.

• Offsetting blue carbon benefits: Mangrove tree stems identified as previously underestimated methane source

  Mangrove ecosystems rank among the most efficient "blue carbon" systems on Earth, capable of absorbing and storing vast quantities of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). However, mangroves also release methane (CH4), a potent greenhouse gas, potentially offsetting a portion of their climate mitigation benefits.

• Thais navigate flooded homes and ancient temples by boat

  For three months, Thai retiree Somkid Kijniyom has been sleeping in a small boat surviving on dry food handouts in the waist-high floodwaters that have filled his home.

• Climate leaders are talking about 'overshoot' into warming danger zone. Here's what it means

  The world's climate leaders are conceding that Earth's warming will shoot past a hard limit they set a decade ago in hopes of keeping the planet out of a danger zone. But they're not conceding defeat.