News by Subject Earth Science

A group of researchers from three Japanese universities has discovered why the western subarctic Pacific Ocean, which accounts for only 6 percent of the world's oceans, produces an estimated 26 percent of the world's marine resources.

To develop locally relevant strategies that improve food security, nutrition, and conservation, researchers employed a gendered ecosystem services approach in Zambia.

Specifically, he pointed out that oilfield brine has much different properties, like density and viscosity, than pure water, and these differences affect the processes that cause fluid pressure to trigger earthquakes.

UPV/EHU and BC3 researchers have analyzed the expected evolution of power supply and demand over the coming decades in Spain; they consider a future without nuclear and coal-based plants but with a greater share of renewable sources. They simulate security of supply in this scenario and evaluate to what extent hydro stations could help to alleviate the risk of a power supply shortage.

A new study which provides a global estimate of rock cover on the Earth's glaciers has revealed that the expanse of rock debris on glaciers, a factor that has been ignored in models of glacier melt and sea level rise, could be significant.

Scientists use a smartphone camera to easily measure soil density -- a key metric for analyzing our soils

Finding out if the food and water we consume are safe from toxic and carcinogenic metals can now be much faster and simpler. Researchers at the University Johannesburg developed an efficient and more sensitive method to test for dangerous levels of heavy metals, like arsenic, cadmium and chromium in vegetables and water. The method can be used to test other foods also. A clay-based adsorbent makes testing for several metals at the same time possible.

Whether in flood early-warning systems or in agriculture - rainfall measurements are of great importance. However, there is a lack of accurate data for many regions in the world due to the fact that comprehensive measurements have so far been too expensive. Researchers at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and the University of Augsburg have now succeeded in utilizing the commercial microwave link network operated by mobile network providers for Germany-wide rainfall measurements.