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Environment - Earth Sciences - 21.12.2020
Muddying the waters: rock breakdown may play less of a role in regulating climate than previously thought
The weathering of rocks at the Earth's surface may remove less greenhouse gases from the atmosphere than previous estimates, says new research from the University of Cambridge.

Environment - Earth Sciences - 21.12.2020
Muddying the waters: rock breakdown may play less role of a role in regulating climate than previously thought
The weathering of rocks at the Earth's surface may remove less greenhouse gases from the atmosphere than previous estimates, says new research from the University of Cambridge.

Earth Sciences - Environment - 30.10.2020
New drone technology advances volcanic monitoring
Specially-adapted drones, developed by an international team involving scientists from the University of Cambridge, are transforming how we forecast eruptions by allowing close-range measurements of previously inaccessible and hazardous volcanoes These aerial measurements are pushing the frontiers of the current state-of-the-art in volcano monitoring Emma Liu The team, involving 20 researchers from seven countries, used long-range drones kitted out with a range of lightweight sensors to study the Manam volcano - one of the most active volcanoes in Papua New Guinea.

Earth Sciences - Environment - 30.10.2020
New drone technology improves ability to forecast volcanic eruptions
Specially-adapted drones developed by a UCL-led international team have been gathering data from never-before-explored volcanoes that will enable local communities to better forecast future eruptions. The cutting-edge research at Manam volcano in Papua New Guinea is improving scientists' understanding of how volcanoes contribute to the global carbon cycle, key to sustaining life on Earth.

Earth Sciences - Microtechnics - 30.10.2020
Specially-adapted drones gather new data from unexplored volcanoes
Specially-adapted drones developed by an international team including Bristol scientists have been gathering data from never-before-explored volcanoes that will enable local communities to better forecast future eruptions. The cutting-edge research at Manam volcano in Papua New Guinea is also improving scientists' understanding of how volcanoes contribute to the global carbon cycle, key to sustaining life on Earth.

Earth Sciences - 28.10.2020
Using a volcano’s eruption ‘memory’ to forecast dangerous explosions
Stromboli, the 'lighthouse of the Mediterranean', is known for its low-energy but persistent explosive eruptions, behaviour that is known scientifically as Strombolian activity. This feature has long been an attraction for tourists and volcanologists from all over the world. Occasionally, however, more intense and sudden explosions occur, most recently in July and August last year (2019).

Environment - Earth Sciences - 17.10.2020
Deep sea coral time machines reveal ancient CO2 burps
Analysis of the fossil remains of deep-sea corals (pictured here) were used to examine the history of the oceans and connections to global climate. Dann Blackwood, USGS Deep-sea corals Dann Blackwood, USGS Deep-sea corals Dann Blackwood, USGS 17 October 2020 The fossilised remains of ancient deep-sea corals may act as time machines providing new insights into the effect the ocean has on rising CO2 levels, according to new research carried out by the Universities of Bristol, St Andrews and Nanjing and published in Science Advances.

Earth Sciences - Environment - 16.10.2020
Ground-breaking discovery finally proves rain really can move mountains
First and corresponding author Dr Byron Adams in the steep terrain of the Greater Himalaya, central Bhutan. Second author Professor Kelin Whipple Looking upstream within a tributary of the Wang Chu, southwestern Bhutan. Dr Byron Adams The Ta Dzong overlooking the Paro Valley, western Bhutan. Dr Byron Adams 16 October 2020 A pioneering technique which captures precisely how mountains bend to the will of raindrops has helped to solve a long-standing scientific enigma.

Earth Sciences - History / Archeology - 28.09.2020
The testimony of trees: how volcanic eruptions shaped 2000 years of world history
Researchers have shown that over the past two thousand years, volcanoes have played a larger role in natural temperature variability than previously thought, and their climatic effects may have contributed to past societal and economic change. Some climate models assume that the effect of volcanoes is punctuated and short.

Environment - Earth Sciences - 25.09.2020
Tree rings show scale of Arctic pollution is worse than previously thought
The largest-ever study of tree rings from Norilsk in the Russian Arctic has shown that the direct and indirect effects of industrial pollution in the region and beyond are far worse than previously thought.

Physics - Earth Sciences - 23.09.2020
Scientists shine light on tiny crystals behind unexpected violent eruptions
This image shows the usual, gentle effusive eruption typical of Mt Etna (Italy). The erupted Etna rock is melted in a wire furnace on the synchrotron beamline at Diamond Light Source. Richard Brooker Nanolite 'snow' surrounding an iron oxide microlite 'Christmas tree'. Even these small 50 nm spheres are actually made up of even smaller nanolites aggregated into clumps.

Environment - Earth Sciences - 11.09.2020
Loss of sea otters accelerating the effects of climate change
The impacts of predator loss and climate change are combining to devastate living reefs that have defined Alaskan kelp forests for centuries, according to new research published in Science. "We discovered that massive limestone reefs built by algae underpin the Aleutian Islands' kelp forest ecosystem," said Douglas Rasher, a senior research scientist at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences and the lead author of the study.

Environment - Earth Sciences - 10.09.2020
66 million years of Earth’s climate uncovered from ocean sediments
Changes in the Earth's climate over the last 66 million years have been revealed in unprecedented detail by a team involving UCL researchers, highlighting four distinctive climatic states and the natural millionand thousand-year variability that Earth's climate has experienced. , the new global "climate reference curve" created by the team is the first record to continually and accurately trace how the Earth's climate has changed since the great extinction of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.

Earth Sciences - Environment - 07.09.2020
’Wild West’ mentality lingers in US mountain regions
Distinct psychological mix associated with mountain populations is consistent with the theory that harsh frontiers attracted certain personalities. This psychological fingerprint for mountainous areas may be an echo of the personality types that sought new lives in unknown territories Friedrich Götz When historian Frederick Jackson Turner presented his famous thesis on the US frontier in 1893, he described the "coarseness and strength combined with acuteness and acquisitiveness" it had forged in the American character.

Earth Sciences - Environment - 20.08.2020
Carbon dioxide ’pulses’ are a common feature of the carbon cycle
Researchers have found that pulse-like releases of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere are a pervasive feature of the carbon cycle and that they are closely connected to major changes in Atlantic Ocean circulation.

History / Archeology - Earth Sciences - 12.08.2020
Step change in our ability to unlock secrets of the past with radiocarbon dates
Radiocarbon dating, a technique widely used in archaeology and geoscience, is set to become more accurate than ever after an international team of scientists have shared much-anticipated new calibration curves based on data from ancient trees, lake and ocean sediments, cave deposits and more.

Earth Sciences - 24.07.2020
COVID-19 lockdown caused 50 percent global reduction in human-linked Earth vibrations
The lack of human activity during lockdown caused human-linked vibrations in the Earth to drop by an average of 50 percent between March and May 2020. The lack of human activity during lockdown caused human-linked vibrations in the Earth to drop by an average of 50 percent between March and May 2020.

Earth Sciences - Environment - 30.06.2020
Reveals how water in deep Earth triggers earthquakes and volcanic activity
Scientists have for the first time linked the deep Earth's water cycle to earthquakes and volcanic activity. Water, sulphur and carbon dioxide, which are cycled through the deep Earth, play a key role in the evolution of our planet - including in the formation of continents, the emergence of life, the concentration of mineral resources, and the distribution of volcanoes and earthquakes.

Environment - Earth Sciences - 29.06.2020
Asteroid impact, not volcanoes, made the Earth uninhabitable for dinosaurs
Modelling of the Chicxulub asteroid impact 66 million years ago shows it created a world largely unsuitable for dinosaurs to live in. The asteroid, which struck the Earth off the coast of Mexico at the end of the Cretaceous era 66 million years ago, has long been believed to be the cause of the demise of all dinosaur species except those that became birds.

Earth Sciences - Environment - 24.06.2020
Reveals how water in the deep Earth triggers earthquakes and tsunamis
Water (H2O) and other volatiles (e.g. CO2 and sulphur) that are cycled through the deep Earth have played a key role in the evolution of our planet, including in the formation of continents, the onset of life, the concentration of mineral resources, and the distribution of volcanoes and earthquakes.