A new study has identified a distinct climate precursor in the Mediterranean Sea that can predict winter precipitation levels in the Levant months in advance. The study, published in Weather and Climate Dynamics, is titled “Mediterranean Sea heat…
Category: Earth
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New Aegean index unlocks advance in Mediterranean seasonal rainfall forecasting
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Major gap in Earth's rock record likely due to tectonics—not glaciers
The Great Unconformity is a major gap in Earth’s geologic record. The missing layer between Precambrian and Cambrian rocks represents a gap of around a billion years of history. Among much debate surrounding the cause of the gap, a new study,…
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Ice Age erosion may explain Appalachians' smoother northern peaks
Hike north on the Appalachian Trail and the scenery slowly transforms. Rugged, steep ridgelines in Tennessee and Virginia soften into the broad summits and smooth peaks of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. According to new research from William & Mary…
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Canada's Magdalen Islands' peatlands hold vital clues about ancient Atlantic hurricanes
Eastern Canada has seen a rise in the number of hurricane- and near-hurricane strength events battering its maritime areas, with particularly violent storms in 2003 (Hurricane Juan), 2019 (Dorian) and 2022 (Fiona). While this seems to be a recent…
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Blaming beavers for flood damage is bad policy and bad science, research shows
Beaver dams are critical to river health and a source of biodiversity. They create wetlands, slow water and improve water quality. They also reduce flood peaks and delay runoff. But beaver dams are often blamed when extreme rainstorms cause…
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Jupiter’s Moons May Have Held Life’s Ingredients at Birth
When did Jupiter’s Galilean moons first contain the ingredients for life? This is what complementary studies published in The Planetary Science Journal and Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society…
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Thunderstorms conjure ghostly coronae in treetops, observed outdoors for the first time
For the first time, researchers have observed and measured weak electrical discharges, known as coronae, on trees during thunderstorms. A new study describes the near-invisible sparkles appearing similarly on branches of several tree species up…
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5,000-Year-Old Cave Ice Bacteria is Resistant to Ten Modern Antibiotics
Bacteria can live practically anywhere; they have colonized the human body, the ocean depths, frozen ice, and blistering hot springs. Scientists have recovered bacterial samples from a variety of wild and…
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Melting Antarctic Ice Disrupted Earth’s Global Ocean Conveyor Belt
A closer look at Earth’s history shows that melting ice sheets temporarily increased stratification in the Southern Ocean. A new study finds that during the last two major deglaciations, the shifts from ice ages to warmer interglacial periods,…
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Global greening: Study shows Earth's green wave is shifting northeast
A team of scientists led by the German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research (UFZ), and Leipzig University has developed a new method to track Earth’s greenness—a key indicator of…
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