Earth’s tropical forests hoard huge amounts of carbon, but as temperatures rise and weather patterns shift due to climate change, scientists worry that their lush green canopies will start leaking more CO2. That concern got some serious validation this week, when a new study concluded that the recent El Niño period…
Following a pattern of everything being terrible in 2017, two volcanoes are primed to erupt along the western edge of the Ring of Fire.
An enormous hole in the the wintertime sea ice surrounding Antarctica is attracting considerable scientific attention. Researchers think the so-called Weddell polynya is part of a natural cycle, but its present size—the biggest it’s been since it was first spotted in the 1970s—could help us understand the processes…
At least one man is dead following a dramatic series of rockslides at Yosemite’s iconic El Capitan on Wednesday. A second “significantly larger” rockfall occurred a day later, dropping thousands of tons of rock to the forest floor below.
As we plunge deeper into the 21st century and the digital worlds we’ve built, a group of scientists is weighing a decision that could rewrite the very history of the physical world we inhabit. These researchers are trying to discern whether humanity has become a literal force of nature, one so powerful its traces will…
Satellite images taken this past weekend show a new 100-square-mile iceberg emerging from Antarctica’s Pine Island Glacier. The calving event did not come as a complete surprise, but it’s a troubling sign with regards to future sea level rise.
The science news media has a pretty simple job: Find facts, and report them. Typically, this entails reading a scientific study, talking to the study’s authors and outside experts, writing, and fact-checking the confusing bits with experts again. But sometimes, the narrative the media wants isn’t actually supported by…
Last year, a team of European researchers was alarmed to learn that glaciers covered in pink snow—caused not by an Ocean Spray truck collision, but by snow-dwelling red algae—were melting faster than the surrounding white ice. Now, another group of researchers has observed the same phenomenon halfway across the world…
Two months ago, an iceberg half the size of Jamaica tore itself loose from Antarctica’s Larsen C Ice Shelf. As it slowly drifts north, this massive berg is exposing an area that’s been covered in ice for the past 120,000 years. An international agreement has now been put in place to protect this emerging area and keep…
Around 36 million years ago, an asteroid smashed into what is now the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. New research suggests that, for a brief time, the temperature at the point of impact exceeded 4,300 degrees F (2,370 C), making it the hottest temperature known to have occurred on Earth.
It’s been a particularly brutal wildfire season in parts of western North America, as several large blazes continue to cause headaches from California up to British Columbia. As shocking new satellite images show, the smoke from these fires hasn’t been limited to the west coast, or even the North American continent.…
The strongest earthquake to hit Mexico in a century has struck off the nation’s West Coast, shaking buildings for hundreds of miles and triggering tsunami warnings. At least 16 people have been killed, but officials are expecting the death toll to rise.
Scientists have identified nearly 100 previously unknown volcanoes in West Antarctica, which, in addition to the 47 already known to exist in the region, makes it one of the largest concentration of volcanoes in the world.
In Miami, it’s no secret that sunny day flooding is occurring more often, nor that rising sea levels and climate change are to blame. But, as is often the case when you drill down into the inner workings of our planet, the full story is a bit more complicated.
In news that is making the recent Pacific Northwest wildfires look downright ordinary, scientists have spotted a large wildfire raging across western Greenland, a place better known for its enormous glaciers.
Last month, humanity watched with a mixture of awe and terror as an iceberg half the size of Jamaica broke clean off the Antarctic Peninsula. But the story isn’t over for Larsen C, or its recently-shed belly fat, the iceberg now known as A68. As both ‘berg and shelf continue to transform before our eyes, they’re…
252 million years ago, the Earth was in a really bad place. At the boundary of the Permian and Triassic periods, our biosphere experienced its most dramatic mass extinction event (so far), one so utterly complete that it has been solemnly termed the “Great Dying.” Precious little was spared, and it’s generally been…
Last week, the Larsen C Ice Shelf gave birth to a trillion pound baby, an iceberg now dubbed A68. The latest observations suggest this big berg has moved 1.5 miles from its starting point, and that it’s already starting to crack up.
As expected, an iceberg half the size of Jamaica has finally cut itself loose from Antarctica’s Larsen C Ice Shelf. Dubbed A68, the 2,240 square mile (5,800 square km) chunk of ice one of the biggest ever recorded—but what happens now, both to the iceberg and the ice shelf, is anyone’s guess.
Wildfires are tearing across regions in the western US and Canada, forcing over 15,000 residents to flee their homes. Hot, dry, and windy conditions are fueling the fires, many of which are expected to grow over the coming days. Discouragingly, wildfire season has only just begun.
