California officials faced a conundrum in dealing with mudslides after the Thomas Fire.
Climate Change
Seafloor Reveals a Period of Rapid Retreat for Thwaites Glacier
New high-resolution seafloor imagery shows a series of delicate ridges produced by the glacier’s front as it bobbed daily with the tides, revealing a recent period of rapid retreat.New high-resolution seafloor imagery shows a series of delicate ridges produced by the glacier’s front as it bobbed daily with the tides, revealing a recent period of rapid retreat.
Monitoring Moisture from Afar
Undisturbed tropical rain forests are experiencing more frequent droughts, but the ecosystems are isolated and difficult to assess. Scientists are using remote sensing to expand the depth and scope of monitoring efforts.
Amazon Basin Tree Rings Hold a Record of the Region’s Rainfall
New research provides a 200-year reconstruction of interannual rainfall in the Amazon basin using oxygen isotopes preserved in tree rings in Ecuador and Bolivia.
Food Deficits in Africa Will Grow in a Warmer World
Under the combined stress of growing populations and current warming trends, many African nations will face increasing shortfalls in food production in the coming decades.
Rain Makes Skulls Bigger—in Mice
New research shows how regional weather, shaped by towering mountain ranges, might influence the size and shape of local rodents.
Melting Below the Pine Island Ice Shelf Minds the Gap
New research shows that increased calving from West Antarctica’s Pine Island Ice Shelf will likely drive increased circulation of warm water—and melting—below the ice.
A Dilemma About Radiative Climate Feedback in Recent Decades
Given the unambiguous climate warming in recent decades, is it possible to infer radiative climate feedback from modern satellite measurements of the energy budget of the Earth?
When Projecting Coastal Resilience, Sediment Compaction Is Key
The addition of new sediment helps build up lowland environments like deltas and marshes, but it also compacts materials beneath it—a vital, but often overlooked, factor in landscape evolution studies.
Satellites Can Accurately Take Earth’s Temperature
Satellite-based measurements of land surface temperature may prove to be an essential pairing with near-surface air temperatures to understand global warming and cooling trends.
