Atmospheric aerosol particles are essential for the formation of clouds and precipitation, thereby influencing the Earth’s energy budget, water cycle, and climate. However, the origin of aerosol particles in pristine air over the Amazon rainforest during the wet season is poorly understood. A new study, led by the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, reveals that rainfall regularly induces bursts of newly formed nanoparticles in the air above the forest canopy.

Only a few weeks ago, massive precipitation produced by the storm “Boris” led to chaos and flooding in Central and Eastern Europe. An analysis conducted by the Alfred Wegener Institute shows that in a world without the current level of global warming Boris would have deposited roughly nine percent less rain. Such conclusions can be drawn thanks to a new modelling approach called ‘storylines’. How it can be used in near-real-time was just presented in the Nature journal Communications Earth & Environment. At the same time, the AWI team released a freely available online tool that allows users to identify the fingerprints of climate change in current extreme weather events and create their own comparison graphics.

An international, Gates Foundation-funded collaboration reports new knowledge that could simplify genetic transfer of nitrogen fixation to food crops.The method, which involves a newly known minimum of seven genes, is aimed at enabling cereal crops, such as corn and rice, to achieve nitrogen fixation on their own, from sunlight, without applying fertilizer.

On Sept. 26, 2024, Hurricane Helene slammed into the Gulf Coast of Florida, inducing storm surges and widespread impacts on communities in its path. At the same time, NASA’s Atmospheric Waves Experiment, or AWE, recorded enormous swells in the atmosphere that the hurricane produced roughly 55 miles above the ground. 

Scientists have spotted microplastics, tiny pieces of plastic smaller than 5 millimeters, in some of the most pristine environments on Earth, from the depths of the Mariana Trench to the snow on Mt. Everest to the mountaintop clouds of China and Japan. Microplastics have been detected in human brains, the bellies of sea turtles and the roots of plants. Now, new research led by Penn State scientists reveals that microplastics in the atmosphere could be affecting weather and climate.