A 113-million-year-old marine murder mystery may finally be solved. Using chemical clues locked inside microscopic fossils, Northwestern University scientists found evidence that ocean acidification drove one of the largest extinction events in the history of planktic foraminifera—tiny shell-building organisms that help regulate Earth's carbon cycle.
When trying to make more sustainable clothing choices, many consumers follow a simple rule: Choose natural fibers over synthetic ones. Cotton instead of polyester. Wool instead of acrylic. Linen instead of nylon.
The ocean absorbs roughly a quarter of humanity's carbon dioxide emissions each year. Understanding how that happens, and how it might change, is essential for predicting our climate's future. To do that, scientists need models that simulate not just the ocean's physical processes, such as currents and temperature, but the full web of biological and chemical processes that move carbon through the water column.
France and Spain on Thursday glimpsed a reprieve from some of the worst wildfires in living memory, which have sent hundreds of thousands of people fleeing—among them Hollywood star George Clooney and his wife, Amal.
Greece on Thursday battled to contain a spate of wildfires, including one on the tourist island of Crete that forced thousands of residents and holidaymakers to evacuate and left three firefighters dead.
Italian authorities raised the drought alert level to "high" Thursday in the Po Valley, home to the country's longest river, because of worsening conditions and unfavorable weather forecasts.
When catastrophic wildfires capture global headlines, such as the unprecedented blazes sweeping through southern Europe this summer or the devastating 2019–20 "Black Summer" in Australia, they are almost always preceded by severe drought. Dry vegetation and parched landscapes are necessary ingredients for infernos.
Southern Europe is "becoming more flammable," with the number of summer days primed for extreme fire conditions more than doubling since 1981, a new study found Thursday.
Summer days featuring conditions that promote wildfire ignition, intensity and spread have more than doubled across large parts of the Iberian Peninsula, France, Italy and Greece since 1981, according to a study in Scientific Reports. The findings suggest that hotter, drier weather is increasing wildfire risk across Southern Europe, despite fewer fires occurring in the region since the 1980s.
Hundreds of firefighters were battling strong winds Friday as they fought a wildfire in southwestern Turkey. High winds stoked a new blaze, complicating efforts to bring the fires under control, a minister said.
Coastal cities are at increasing risk of compound flooding events, such as when heavy rainfall and storm surges occur simultaneously during hurricanes. However, the processes that contribute to urban compound flooding aren't well understood at smaller scales.
Two of the world's most fire-prone regions have followed strikingly different wildfire trajectories despite both experiencing a warming climate. Burned forest area has surged across the U.S. Southwest, while eastern Australia has not seen the same increase.
Hundreds of Turkish firefighters battled Thursday to contain wind-fueled wildfires spreading near key tourist regions on the country's Mediterranean coast.
The bison carried on grazing peacefully as the flames approached, imperturbable despite the fires ravaging the land around their wildlife park west of Madrid.
Permafrost in the Arctic stores large quantities of organic carbon. When frozen ground thaws or coastal sections erode, this carbon can enter the sea, where microorganisms can break it down and convert it into climate-damaging greenhouse gases. The extent to which this carbon actually enters the atmosphere, however, and how much remains in the ocean have hardly been quantified to date.
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