What was the cause of the great Tōhoku earthquake of 2011, and how can we better understand geological processes in order to protect coastal infrastructure in the long term – for example, from a tsunami like the one 13 years ago? These questions are currently the focus of a scientific expedition as part of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP), in which researchers from the MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen are participating. 

Nitrogen oxide emissions from soil in California's Salton Sea air basin are 10 times larger than state estimates, finds UC Davis study of rural Imperial and Coachella valleys.

Bird wing shape — a proxy for long-distance flying ability, or dispersal — is a trait that influences biodiversity patterns on islands around the world, according to research from WashU biologists.

From 23 percent less in the northern Alps to a decrease of almost 50 percent on the southwestern slopes: between 1920 and 2020, snowfall across the entirety of the Alps has decreased on average by a significant 34 percent. The results come from a study coordinated by Eurac Research and were published in the International Journal of Climatology. The study also examines how much altitude and climatological parameters such as temperature and total precipitation impact on snowfall.

The National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR) publishes Polar Science, a peer-reviewed quarterly journal dealing with polar science, in collaboration with Elsevier B. V. The special issue titled "The Seventh International Symposium on Arctic Research (ISAR-7)" was published as part of the latest issue (Vol. 41, September 2024). The full text of issue 41 will be freely accessible worldwide until 20 March 2025.

Researchers from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa assessed  an unprecedented 120 years of data from Kīlauea Volcano on Hawai‘i Island, uncovering, for the first time, century-spanning patterns of deformation and stress changes. They had a particular focus on the transformative 1975 magnitude 7.7 Kalapana earthquake.

The algorithms behind generative AI tools like DallE, when combined with physics-based data, can be used to develop better ways to model the Earth’s climate. Computer scientists in Seattle and San Diego have now used this combination to create a model that is capable of predicting climate patterns over 100 years 25 times faster than the state of the art.