Scientists unravel the conditions under which life evolved to breathe oxygen—and the findings have some stellar implications.
Climate Change
Posted inNews
Republican Congressman Urges Colleagues to Act on Climate Change
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick says that Republican members of Congress need to “acknowledge reality” and do more to raise awareness about climate change.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Dramatic Stratospheric Warmings Carved a Hole in the Ionosphere
A new study of sudden temperature spikes in Earth’s stratosphere could improve space weather forecasting.
Posted inNews
Landslides Send Carbon-Rich Soils into Long-Term Storage
Earthquake-triggered landslides move soils down steep slopes and deposit the sediments near rivers, sequestering the carbon contained within them for millions of years.
Posted inScience Updates
Lightning: A New Essential Climate Variable
Lightning is a symptom and a cause of climate change. A recently established task team is working to make lightning data available and useful for climate science and service applications.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Budgeting Ozone-Depleting Emissions from Coastal Tidal Marshes
Brackish wetlands and their salt-tolerant vegetation are significant methyl halide emitters. The natural emissions add chlorine and bromine to the stratosphere, which break down ozone.
Posted inScience Updates
Better Data for Modeling the Sun’s Influence on Climate
Several international initiatives are working to stitch together data describing solar forcing of Earth’s climate. Their objective is to improve understanding of climate response to solar variability.
Posted inOpinions
Human Activities Create Corridors of Change in Aquatic Zones
Canals, dammed reservoirs, irrigation ditches, and pollution are changing species diversity, microbial communities, and nutrient levels in aquatic zones across the planet.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
New Modeling Framework Improves Radiative Feedback Estimates
A new approach offers insights into the relationship between surface temperature and top-of-atmosphere energy imbalances and improves the understanding of important climate feedbacks.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Countergeoengineering Could Ease or Escalate Climate Tensions
Researchers systematically consider the feasibility and political implications of future strategies to counteract temperature-lowering solar geoengineering efforts.