Formation of a huge underwater volcano offshore the Comoros

A new submarine volcano was formed off the island of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean in 2018. This was shown by an oceanographic campaign in May 2019. Now an international team led by the scientist Simone Cesca from the German GeoForschungsZentrum GFZ is illuminating the processes deep inside the earth before and during the formation … Read more

Antarctic waters: Warmer with more acidity and less oxygen

The increased freshwater from melting Antarctic ice sheets plus increased wind has reduced the amount of oxygen in the Southern Ocean and made it more acidic and warmer, according to new research led by University of Arizona geoscientists. The researchers found Southern Ocean waters had changed by comparing shipboard measurements taken from 1990 to 2004 … Read more

In ancient scottish rings, a cautionary tale on climate, politics and survival

Using old tree rings and archival documents, historians and climate scientists have detailed an extreme cold period in Scotland in the 1690s that caused immense suffering. It decimated agriculture, killed as much as 15 percent of the population and sparked a fatal attempt to establish a Scottish colony in southern Panama. The researchers say the episode—shown in their study … Read more

Climate signals detected in global weather

In October this year, weather researchers in Utah measured the lowest temperature ever recorded in the month of October in the US (excluding Alaska): -37.1°C. The previous low-temperature record for October was -35°C, and people wondered what had happened to climate change. Until now, climate researchers have responded that climate is not the same thing … Read more

North Atlantic Current may cease temporarily in the next century

The North Atlantic Current transports warm water from the Gulf of Mexico towards Europe, providing much of north-western Europe with a relatively mild climate. However, scientists suspect that meltwater from Greenland and excessive rainfall could interfere with this ocean current. Simulations by scientists from the University of Groningen and Utrecht University showed that it is … Read more

Divergent consensuses on Arctic amplification influence on midlatitude severe winter weather

The Arctic has warmed more than twice as fast as the global average since the late 20th century, a phenomenon known as Arctic amplification (AA). Currently the topic of Arctic amplification in general and sea ice loss in particular and their influence on mid-latitude weather is considered controversial and with little to no consensus. The … Read more

Trashed farmland could be conservation treasure

Low-productivity agricultural land could be transformed into millions of hectares of conservation reserve across the world, according to University of Queensland-led research. The research team proposed a new way of understanding the conservation value of “uncontested lands” – areas where agricultural productivity is low. Dr Zunyi Xie, from UQ’s School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, … Read more

Schmidt Ocean Institute maps one million square kilometers of seafloor and joins monumental mapping initiative

Schmidt Ocean Institute has come together with The Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project for the joint signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to share all of its collected mapping data with the project. According to the Seabed 2030 Project, about 32 million square kilometers or 15% of the ocean has been mapped. The million square … Read more

Preparing for extreme sea levels depends on location, time, UCF study finds

Sometimes to understand the present, it takes looking to the past. That’s the approach University of Central Florida coastal researchers are taking to pinpoint the causes of extreme sea level changes. Using historical data from tide gauges that line U.S. coasts, the researchers created an extreme sea level indicator that identifies how much of a … Read more