Popular Science articles about Earth & Climate

Past climate of the northern Antarctic Peninsular informs global warming debate

The American icebreaker RV/IB Nathanial B. Palmer is shown off the South Shetland Islands. The drilling rig is clearly seen on the rear deck.

Airborne nitrogen shifts aquatic nutrient limitation in pristine lakes

The impact of airborne nitrogen released from the burning of fossil fuels and wide-spread use of fertilizers in agriculture is much greater that previously recognized and even extends to remote...

Nitrogen loss threatens desert plant life, study shows

As the climate gets warmer, arid soils lose nitrogen as gas, reports a new Cornell study. That could lead to deserts with even less plant life than they sustain...

Community education and evacuation planning saved lives in Sept. 29 Samoan tsunami

Community-based education and awareness programs minimized the death toll from the recent Samoan tsunami, though there are still ways to improve the warning and evacuation process, according to a team...

Water-conserving irrigation strategies minimize overwatering, runoff

Conserving water and reducing the environmental impact of runoff are two of the most important issues confronting container nursery operations. Current regulations and laws in five states limit water consumption...

New insight into predicting cholera epidemics in the Bengal Delta

Cholera, an acute diarrheal disease caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, has reemerged as a global killer. Outbreaks typically occur once a year in Africa and Latin America. But in...

Paleoecologists offer new insight into how climate change will affect organisms

An article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science written by a team of ecologists, including Robert Booth, assistant professor of earth and environmental science at Lehigh University,...

Deep-sea ecosystems affected by climate change

The vast muddy expanses of the abyssal plains occupy about 60 percent of the Earth's surface and are important in global carbon cycling. Based on long-term studies of two such...

Mapping nutrient distributions over the Atlantic Ocean

Large-scale distributions of two important nutrient pools – dissolved organic nitrogen and dissolved organic phosphorus (DON and DOP) have been systematically mapped for the first time over the Atlantic Ocean...

K-State engineers strive to make algae oil production more feasible

Two Kansas State University engineers are assessing systematic production methods that could make the costs of algae oil production more reasonable, helping move the U.S. from fossil fuel dependency to...

Snows Of Kilimanjaro shrinking rapidly, and likely to be lost

The remaining ice fields atop famed Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania could be gone within two decades and perhaps even sooner, based on the latest survey of the ice fields remaining...

Are the Alps growing or shrinking?

The Alps are growing just as quickly in height, as they are shrinking. This paradoxical result could be proven by a group of German and Swiss geoscientists. Due to glaciers and rivers about exactly the same amount of material is...

Coral reefs inspire rare consensus -- just save them

One of the first set of studies to examine what tourists and recreation enthusiasts actually think about coral reef ecosystems suggests they are a rare exception to controversies over human...

Researchers hail innovative plan to save rainforest, reduce greenhouse gas emissions

An innovative proposal by the Ecuadorian government to protect an untouched, oil rich region of Amazon rainforest is a precedent-setting and potentially economically viable approach, says a team of environmental...

Earthquakes actually aftershocks of 19th century quakes

When small earthquakes shake the central U.S., citizens often fear the rumbles are signs a big earthquake is coming. Fortunately, new research instead shows that most of these earthquakes are...

Study uses satellite imagery to identify active magma systems in East Africa's Rift Valley

A team from the University of Miami, University of El Paso and University of Rochester have employed Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) images compiled over a decade to study volcanic...

Calm before the spawn: Climate change and coral spawning

What's the point of setting up marine reserves to protect coral reefs from pollution, ship groundings and overfishing if climate change could cause far more damage? A study published this...

Report on US-China collaboration on carbon capture and sequestration

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's Julio Friedmann, in collaboration with the Center for American Progress, the Asia Society Center and with partner Monitor Group, today released the report, "A Roadmap for...

Timber harvest impacts amphibians differently during life stages

Frogs are croaking in clear-cut forests, but not exactly in their traditional manner. University of Missouri researchers found that removing all of the trees from a section of the forest...

African desert rift confirmed as new ocean in the making

In 2005, a gigantic, 35-mile-long rift broke open the desert ground in Ethiopia. At the time, some geologists believed the rift was the beginning of a new ocean as two...

Study gives clearer picture of how land-use changes affect US climate

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. ╤ Researchers say regional surface temperatures can be affected by land use, suggesting that local and regional strategies, such as creating green spaces and buffer zones in...

Sandia announces completion of mixed waste landfill cover construction

The Environmental Restoration Project at Sandia National Laboratories reports the successful construction of an alternative evapotranspirative cover at the Mixed Waste Landfill (MWL) in September. The 2.6-acre site is located...